On 17 December 2006 morning around 9:30 the victim B. Vijaya, 24, W/o Badru was working in Rayalla Pullaiah’s field. Then the accused Gurram Suresh, 30, S/o Rangaiha of same village, belong to caste Kamma, at once came behind, clutched her mouth, threw her down, and raped her. When the rapist Gurram Suresh saw Rayalla Kalavatha w/o Rayalla pullaiah, a village woman going there, he ran away from scene of offence. The victim went to police station and lodged a complaint in Konijarla police station against the rapist.

A case was registered No. 147/06, u/sec 376 IPC 3(1) (xiiI) & 3(2)(v) SC/ST Act before the Konijarla police station. Accused has been arrested and released on bail. Police filed Charge sheet on 05.03.07. At present the case is pending before the special court for trial. Perpetrator arrested remanded and came out in bail. Compensation partly received by victim. Representations were sent to the concerned officials requesting proper action in accordance with law. A petition was filed under section 301 Cr P.C.to assist the public prosecutor.

Chanod village is about 65 Kilometers away from the District Headquarter Pali and about 365 km from Jaipur. Kanya Devi got married to Basia Ram before 20 years. Kanya Devi lived in a small tattered hut nearby Sakdara Road. She has five children and economically in a very pathetic condition. Kanya Devi used to go to the nearby jungle to graze cattle. On December 11, 2006, at around 2 pm when Kanya Devi was grazing the cattle near Mukan Sagar Dam, the accused namely Haka Ram Meena who was deputed as a guard at Mukan Sagar Dam, came from rear and clutched Kanya Devi in his arms and dragged her in the bushes. Haka Ram flung her on land and closed her mouth with his hand and brutally raped her.  Kanya Devi shouted a lot but no one was there in the forest to rescue her. Haka Ram threatened her with an axe and said that if she will shout, she will be killed.

After raping Kanya Devi, Haka Ram threatened her to keep her mouth shut and went away to the village.  Somehow Kanya Devi returned home at 5 pm and narrated the whole incident to her husband. Next day Kanya Devi with her husband went to Police Station to lodge FIR against the accused but the in charge of Chanod Police station refused to register their FIR. Then Kanya’s husband Basia Ram went to Takhatgarh Police station; here also their FIR was not registered by the Police in-charge. Instead, he claimed the incident to be false and made him sit for 4 hours.

Meanwhile, Haka Ram came to know that Kanya Devi is going to lodge FIR against him, he rushed to her home accompanied by other men and threatened her to kill if she does not withdraw her case. When Basia Ram came back home, Kanya Devi told him that Haka Ram came there and threatened her to kill. Next day they went Pali and visited the S.P and told him about the whole incident and then with the direction of S.P, on January 11, 2007 Takhatgarh police registered their case. Kanya Devi also reported that five years ago, she lived in Indra Colony with her family. The accused Haka Ram was their neighbor. One day when she was alone at her home, Haka Ram came, forcedly raped her and ran away from there. Kanya Devi didn’t tell about this incident to anyone, not even her husband but asked him to sell out the house. Soon her husband Basia Ram sold that house to Moti Ram Mali and shifted to their present hut near Hemnara.

Soon Police started the investigation and on February 21^st, 2007 filed F/R no. 02/07 in the case before the Magistrate alleging the case to be false as no other evidence was found in favor of Kanya Devi.

Kanya Devi and her husband went to the Police Station to lodge FIR against the accused but the in charge of the Chanod Police station refused to register their FIR. Then Kanya’s husband Basia Ram went to Takhatgarh Police station; here also their FIR was not registered by the Police in-charge. Instead, he claimed the incident to be false and made him sit for 4 hours. Kanya Devi didn’t give up and decided to report the case to S.P, Pali and then with the intervention of S.P. her case was registered by the Takhatgarh Police. Soon Police started investigation. After investigation on February 21, 2007 police filed F/R 2/07 in the case.

Kanya Devi was sent for medical examination to the hospital of Takathgarh, Pali on January 13, 2007 after one month from the date of incident. Her Medical examination was done by single female medical practitioner Dr. Vijay Laxmi Bishnoi. The medical report solely denied the occurrence of rape with Kanya Devi. The doctor stated that Kanya Devi is habitual for sexual intercourse & not pregnant. No serious injury has been made on external genital. 

Perpetrators & their families tried their level best to hush up the matter by hook or crook. He manipulated evidences in his favor and managed all the witnesses in his favor. He offered some money to Kanya Devi and asked to compromise and withdraws her case but as she denied it. Many times, Kanya Devi approached police but she found police very reluctant. She lost her faith in law and order. 

Allampalli Kalawathi, aged 37 years, W/o Srinivasa Rao, R/o Kovvuru village, East Godavari district, Andhra Pradesh, belongs to the Scheduled Caste Mala. She was elected as the Kovvuru Village Sarpanch in the recent elections held in August 2006. Kapu (OC) is the Dominant Community in the village. After Kalawathi got elected, the former sarpanch Pilli Suryakantham, BC by caste did not hand over the records to her, furthermore, the Secretary of Panchayat did not even allow her to enter the office. On 8^th December 2006, State Minister JC Diwakar came to lay the foundation stone for the village panchayat office building. The Dominant Caste elders of the village did not allow the same. Finally, she herself laid the foundation stone for the village panchayat office along with the ward members on the same day. The Kapu caste elders abused her in filthy language in the name of caste and assaulted her.  Even a ward member viz., Shesharatnam was victimized in this attack. 

Kalawathi lodged a complaint in the Indrapalem Police Station on the same day, i.e., on 8^th December 2006, but the case was not registered.  Then she filed a writ petition in the High Court of Andhra Pradesh asking for the registration of case, arrest of the accused and to protection her, so that she could discharge her duties. The SI said that FIR is registered and the case is under investigation with the DSP. Kalawathi’s husband Srinivasa Rao was former MPTC.  During his tenure, there was a dispute between him and the Kapu community as regards distribution of land to Dalits.  Pendem Veera Venkata Satyanarayana (Zamindar) of Kapu community played a key role in this issue.  A case was registered and Satyanarayana was remanded for 30 days. They are still at daggers drawn, thus Kalawathi is being harassed.  Sampara MLA Anishetti Bullebbai Reddy, OC by caste is supporting the Kapu community. 

On 8^th December 2006, after JC Diwakar Reddy left, Kalawathi along with the other ward members laid the foundation stone at 04:00 pm. While this ceremony was in progress, at 05:00 pm, Arava Sattibabu, aged 38 years, S/o Pandurangarao, Kapu, Urava Srinivasarao, aged 45 years, S/o Ramaswamy, Kapu, Damadora Surya Prakash, aged 43 years, S/o Ramaswamy, Kapu, Urava Intobbayi, aged 50 years, S/o Ramaswamy, Kapu, Urava Anjaneyulu, aged 30 years, S/o Ramaswamy, Kapu, Pendem Krishna, aged 40 years, S/o China Darayya, Kapu attacked them.  They abused Kalawathi in the most abusive language by the name of caste saying “Mala lanjavu, nuvve shankusthapana chesukovadam ente”.  Shesharatnam and Kalawathi were beaten up. At 09:30 pm, Allampalli Kalawathi lodged a complaint in Indrapalem police station.  The case was registered u/s 3(1) (x) of SC/ST (PoA) Act. Collector’s directions were not implemented on account of local MLA’s pressure. The accused person has not been arrested till date. Investigation has not been done. The High Court’s order has not been complied with. The victim is still working as an Anganwadi teacher, because she has not been handed over charge as Sarpanch. 

Allampalli Kalawathi, aged 37 years, W/o Srinivasa Rao, R/o Kovvuru village, East Godavari district, Andhra Pradesh, SC Mala by caste was elected as the Kovvuru Village Sarpanch in the Panchyatraj elections held in the month of August 2006.  Kapu (OC) is the dominant community in the village.  The dominant community in the village challenged the election of Kalawathi in the Kakinada City Civil Court.  The court has given judgment in favor of Kalawathi.  Even after the court judgment, the dominant community with the support of Anisetti Bullebbai Reddy, the local MLA (Sampara Constituency) denied her from discharging her duties.  During the distribution of government schemes including the pensions took place in the village, the sarpanch was supposed to preside over, wherein she was not allowed.  On 8^th December 2006, State Panchayat Minister JC Diwakar has come for inauguration of school building and the sarpanch thought of inaugurating the new panchayat office building, but the dominant caste elders of the village did not let this happen as she was a dalit woman.  They did not even allow the prior sarpanch to inaugurate the new building as she belonged to OBC community.  Hurt by the dominant community behavior, caste elders of dalit community decided that she should inaugurate.  At 16:00 hours Kalawathi inaugurated the new panchayat office.  After the inauguration, Kalawathi along with the ward members went to old office to get furniture, Arava Sattibabu, aged 38 years, S/o Pandurangarao, Kapu, Urava Srinivasarao, aged 45 years, S/o Ramaswamy, Kapu, Damadora Surya Prakash, aged 43 years, S/o Ramaswamy, Kapu, Urava Intobbayi, aged 50 years, S/o Ramaswamy, Kapu, Urava Anjaneyulu, aged 30 years, S/o Ramaswamy, Kapu, Pendem Krishna, aged 40 years, S/o China Darayya, Kapu attacked them.  They abused Kalawathi in the most abusive language by the name of caste saying “Mala lanjavu, nuvvente kotha officeni openchesedi”.  Then they beat her and Shesharatnam.  At 09:30 pm, Allampalli Kalawathi lodged complaint in Indrapalem police station. 

As the complaint was not registered she filed a writ petition in the High Court of Andhra Pradesh asking for the registration of case, arrest of the accused and give her necessary protection to discharge her duties.  Then SI countered saying that FIR is registered and the case is under investigation with the DSP.

Kalawathi’s husband Srinivasa Rao was former MPTC.  During his tenure he differed with the Kapu community regarding distribution of land to Dalits as they denied.  Pendem Veera Venkata Satyanarayana (Zamindar) of Kapu community played a key role in this issue against dalits.  A case was registered and Satyanarayana was sent to remand for 30 days.  Even in this incident, Anishetti Bullebbai Reddy has supported the Kapu community. 

DSS Intervention

• Stood by the victim and held a dharna
• Pressurized the police to register FIR
• Represented the case before commissions

Given victim orientation and capacitating the victim through trainings as she is people’s representative