A student of JNU has accused a prominent ‘activist from Jammu’ who was at the forefront of the protests over the Kathua rape and murder case, of brutally raping her in Delhi on 27th April this year.
The victim, who has shared her ordeal in an exclusive article in Firstpost.com, has chosen to remain anonymous and has stated that ‘the activist’ had not only caused her lasting bodily harm but also a great mental trauma.
The victim has further written that she did not speak up earlier due to apprehensions that such shocking revelations about a ‘hero’ could jeopardise the Kathua child rape-and-murder case.
In the article, the victim has stated that ‘the activist’ was being frequently invited to speak at events organised by institutes like JNU as he had risen to prominence as an ‘anti-rape crusader’. She also mentions that this ‘activist’ was being invited to speak at students’ union events in JNU, AMU and MANUU even before the charge sheet in the Kathua case was filed. As per the victim, ‘the activist’ spoke not just about the Kathua rape and murder case of the child, but also on the problems that the Gujjar-Bhakerwal community faced in the state.
As per the Firstpost article, ‘the activist’ was invited to speak in JNU on March 27, 2018, and afterwards, he maintained a regular contact with the students who had invited him, the victim being one of them. The victim further narrates that after he was attacked in Udhampur on April 13, the students were cautious about his safety. On 27 April, ‘the activist’ reportedly arrived at JNU and insisted the victim should meet him. The victim narrates that it was the day there were altercations in the campus between student groups over the screening of ‘In The Name of Love’, a movie made on love jihad cases of Kerala, and many students, including the victim, were at the police station filing complaints against ABVP members.
The victim states that ‘the activist’ insisted on the victim coming to meet him and when she did, (after 40 phone calls), took her to an apartment in the Batla house area where he raped her brutally, despite her repeated attempts to fight him off. She narrates that ‘the activist’, all the while when he was forcing himself on her, was saying that he will do ‘Nikaah’ with her.
The victim does not divulge the identity of her rapist, only mentions that he is actively promoted by media and has a strong support behind him. She also states that ‘the activist’ was jailed recently on charges of raping a female relative and his own wife has also complained of domestic abuse and dowry harassment by ‘the activist’. She writes that her rapist has recently been released on bail. She mentions that had it not been for the recent campaign named ‘Decolonial Feminist Statement on MeToo in Kashmir‘ she would not have been able to come forward and shared her ordeal because there is an ongoing attempt in Kashmir to gag female voices speaking against sexual harassment. In a shocking revelation, the victim also claims that she later got to know that she was not the only person assaulted by ‘the activist’.
The first person account of the victim’s ordeal and her suffering after the harrowing incident can be read in the Firstpost article.