50-year-old Altaf reportedly raped and impregnated a minor, who is a Hindu, then got the fetus aborted and dumped it in a village in Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh. The 15-year-old girl was subjected to sexual exploitation for over a year in the hands of the accused, as per reports.
According to Dainik Bhaskar’s ground report, the victim was a friend of the daughter of the accused. When the minor confronted Altaf saying “Don’t do this to me, I am like your daughter”, he replied by saying, “You are like my daughter, but you aren’t actually my daughter.”
The accused also threatened the minor against complaining to anyone about the rape. Moreover, when the families of the victim and accused reached the police, the latter openly threatened the victim’s family with consequences if they refused to reach a settlement.
The family of the accused is already infamous in the area for crimes against women. Moreover, Altaf himself has five children, two of whom are married. The minor was his daughter’s friend.
Witness narrates ordeal
As per Dainik Bhaskar’s ground report, the victim said, “We have given our land on a sharing basis to Altaf (50) of the same village. In this connection, he and his family keep visiting my house. He has four daughters and one son. Two are married. His youngest daughter is the same age as me. We were friends.”
“His house is near to our house. I used to often invite my friend (Altaf’s daughter) for dinner on Holi, Diwali or any other Teej festival. She also used to call me every year on Eid. We had grown up together. Earlier everything was normal. But, about one and a half years ago, I realized that her father Altaf had started trying to talk to me often. His behaviour was also strange. I felt that his behaviour was not right. However, I didn’t understand anything.”
The victim said that Altaf came to her house one day while she was alone. “Father had gone to work. Mother was busy with household work. He (Altaf) told me that his daughter had called me home. I was free so I went there immediately. I saw that no one was at home. Everyone had gone somewhere. I was about to leave when Altaf came there,” she said.
“He quickly held my hand and took me inside the house. When I tried to scream, he pressed my mouth and did the wrong things to me, then he showed me a knife and said that if I told anything to anyone, he would cut my throat with it. Not only this, he said that he will not spare anyone in my family.”
The victim said that she was very scared. She sat there and cried for a long time and returned home. She added, “First I thought of telling everything to my mother. But, she remained silent thinking that if anything happened, they would not leave my family. After this, whenever there was no one at his house, he called me to his house and kept raping me. Meanwhile, I got pregnant. When I told him this, he gave me pills.”
Further sharing the chilling details, the victim said, “About a month after this incident, Altaf again threatened me and called me to his house in the month of March. I kept telling him every time not to do this to me. ‘I am like your daughter’. So he would say ‘you are like a daughter, but not a daughter’. He would threaten that if anyone got wind of this, he would kill me. However, this time I also said that if anything wrong is done to me in future, I will either tell everyone or commit suicide.”
She said, “After this, he did not do wrong things again. But then I was pregnant already. After 2 months i.e. in May, I told him this. Altaf said don’t worry I will fix everything. My situation had become such that I was not able to even tell anything to anyone. Time passed.”
“Then one day when my parents and siblings had gone out, Altaf came to my house. He gave me pills. After this, my health deteriorated. He got the abortion done. After this, he went away carrying the child in a bag. My condition kept worsening. I remained lying at home. When my parents came, I kept sleeping. The next day, on 24 September, some villagers found an abandoned fetus and word spread in the village. Then I told my mother everything. They took me to the police station,” the victim said.
Sarpanch threatens victim’s family
Speaking to Dainik Bhaskar, the victim’s brother, who works in Bhopal, said that while they were making the complaint to the police, Altaf’s brother-in-law Afshis Khan, who is the village Sarpanch, arrived at the police station.
“He started telling us to settle the matter and reach a compromise. ‘You have created so much ruckus, what will you get from this? Whatever was to happen has already happened. If you people had told me, we would have buried the child somewhere. Now if you have to live in the village then reach a settlement’.”
The brother of the victim added, “I protested and said that if all this had happened to your (the Sarpanch’s) sister and daughter, would you have compromised? He got angry after hearing this. And went away saying that this is the last chance, take one or two lakhs, and settle. Otherwise, you will know what will happen next.”
The mother of the victim said that they never knew that their daughter was facing this ordeal. “She never told us. When her health deteriorated, we took her to the doctor. Then we got to know what she went through. I was shocked to hear what had happened.”
The mother added, “The Altaf whom we trusted so much stabbed us in the back. He used to threaten to kill our daughter due to which she got scared and didn’t tell anyone anything. We had never thought Altaf would do such a disgusting thing.”
The village Nateran is 73 km away from Vidisha district headquarters. The village comes under Nateran police station area. The population is around one thousand with a mixed number of people from communities including Muslims, Kurmi, and Kushwaha. However, the surrounding area is Muslim-dominated.
The victim family say that they have been facing threats and pressure from the accused. In the meanwhile, the local police have deployed some personnel to guard the victim’s family. The National Commission for Child Protection (NCPCR) has also sought answers from the police in this matter.
After the matter came to light, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) Chairman Priyank Kanungo took cognizance and wrote a letter to Vidisha SP. He has sought legal action in the case, an FIR copy, medical report and a copy of the victim’s statement recorded under section 164 within 3 days.
The NCPCR has also sought an action taken report along with details of what action was taken if the accused and his family pressurised the victim and her family.