Free The Curse of That Night by Rochak Bhatnagar

to calm her down.
    No response. Aarti was still, like a statue, the only difference; she was still breathing and was very much alive!
    “Hand me the copy of that FIR,” Malvika looked at Darsh.
    Darsh looked puzzled.
    “What?” Malvika looked towards Darsh surprisingly.
    “They didn’t give me one!” answered Darsh.
    “Are you kidding me? Why didn’t you ask for the FIR’s copy?” questioned Malvika.
    “I didn’t know about that madam,” Darsh looked clueless.
    “Hmmm… that’s fine, but those police officers must have known it. Then why didn’t they give it to you?” asked Malvika.
    “Omi Yadav is a big name madam,” said Darsh.
    “But not bigger than law and order of this country. Wait, let me call the state police,” and she dialled the state police number.
     
    “Hello, PI Rathore speaking.”
    “Hello, I am Malvika, a friend of Aarti. She came to you this morning to file a complaint.”
    “Aarti who?” said PI.
    “Aarti was raped by Omi Yadav and two other persons,” said Malvika.
    “Oh, yes. Yes madam, what do you want?”
    “I want a copy of the FIR and the reason for not getting her medical check up done till now?” said Malvika.
    “ Haan haan madam. We will call her.”
    “If you don’t call her for the check up now I will go to higher authorities,” said Malvika.
    “Oh hello! Listen to me madam. Give this intimidation to someone else.”
    “Now you listen to me Mr Rathore. You are talking to a lawyer. First, it’s your duty to hand over the FIR’s copy to us and secondly, the victim must be called for medical check up within four hours of filing the complaint. So, don’t teach me law, I know it better than you. Now are you calling her for the check up or should I call your ACP?” Malvika sounded authoritative.
    “Ok. Ok. You will get a call,” said PI and cut the phone.
    Malvika was missing Abhijeet at this point. Missing him a lot.
    “It would have been a lot easier if he were here,” she thought.
    But finally, she did get a call…
     

 
     
     
    Chapter 17
    Aarti
     
     
     
     
     
    ‘For decades, rape victims in India have endured an archaic, poorly funded, under-resourced and insensitive criminal justice system which has failed both to care of them medically and to deliver justice’, human rights groups and lawyers say.
    More than 25,000 rape cases were reported in 2012 by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), which is equivalent to one rape every 20 minutes, but even this is thought to be a small number across the country. Indian police estimates only 4 out of 10 cases are reported, largely because of the deep-rooted conservatism of Indian society, in which many victims are scared to come forward for the fear of being ‘shamed’ by their family and community.
    Those brave enough to go to the police face numerous challenges in getting their attackers to be put behind bars. Reporting rape to un-empathetic police, hostile forensic examination, lack of counselling, shoddy police investigation and weak prosecution in the court, to name a few.
    The number of courts, judges and prosecutors is grossly inadequate, leading to trials that last years, intimidation of victims and witnesses, and the dropping of many cases before judgment.
    One part of the problem is certainly ‘attitude’. A lot of government officials, especially police, allow negative and damaging stereotype of rape survivors being promiscuous to interfere with their duties. So when rape survivors come forward and try to file a complaint, they often face hostility or scepticism about what they have experienced.
    And Aarti’s case unfortunately, was not an exception.
    Disillusionment within the authorities and the shame that Indian society often attaches to the women who has been raped, has led many rape victims to commit suicide, by drinking pesticide, dousing themselves in kerosene and setting themselves alight, or slashing their wrists. (Thankfully, Aarti didn’t attempt any of this.)
    “BLAME