- News>
- Newspapers
Nightmare, bias fill Goa collage: The Indian Express
Panaji, May 31: Beneath the red roofs of the Goa Fine Arts College in Altinho, there`s an emptiness which even the vacations can`t explain. Only an 18-year-old knows. But nobody believes her, not even when she says that on the afternoon before the vacations, she was gang-raped on the college campus by her seniors after they made her smoke an LSD-laced cigarette.
Panaji, May 31: Beneath the red roofs of the Goa Fine Arts College in Altinho, there’s an emptiness which even the vacations can’t explain. Only an 18-year-old knows. But nobody believes her, not even when she says that on the afternoon before the vacations, she was gang-raped on the college campus by her seniors after they made her smoke an LSD-laced cigarette.
It’s almost two weeks since the incident — the girl was raped in a toilet near the college canteen on May 17 but told her mother about it a full five days later — and she’s tired of the explanations she has to provide every now and then. ‘‘I feel like an amber traffic light. Not here, not there but all the same in hell.’’ She’s constantly washing her hands and bathing several times a day. Because she wants to feel clean.
And she has good reason to believe she’s still living a nightmare: hospitals turned her away when she first approached them, the police agreed to file her complaint after considerable delay, insensitive officials went public with their own theories, emboldening wagging tongues.
Instead of taking up her case, people have been pointing to the fact that ‘‘she smokes.’’ In short, questioning her morals and, in a strange way, blaming her for her situation. The fact that she’s ‘‘not a Goan’’ — her mother’s a German and father a Kashmiri Muslim and they separated recently — while the boys involved happen to be middle-class Goan boys — she has named two of her seniors and is unsure of the others — has not helped matters.
Local prejudice is playing a part. ‘‘The scary part is that the locals are justifying the rape, saying she has loose morals. After all, she smokes,’’ says Alberina Almeida, an advocate who heads a women’s organisation called Bailancho Saad.
All her college friends seem to have disowned her. While some made statements like ‘‘she’s a nice, innocent girl,’’ none has cared to stay in touch. A lone classmate has stood by her and the mother confesses ‘‘he’s a great help.’’
To complicate her case, the medical history’s sketchy. Mother and daughter were turned away from the Goa medical college when they first approached doctors. They had to check with a number of private practitioners before they could settle for the one who’s attending her now.
‘‘When I returned to my room that day, I went around in circles. I began playing with dogs though I am scared of them. I remember the eyes of the rapists. I saw hell,’’ says the girl before switching off.
Her mother’s had a hard time, what with six children to manage. ‘‘I was shocked the moment I saw her that day. Someone must have drugged her, I told myself. When I probed, I learnt one of the boys had mentioned LSD mushroom. She told me about the rape only a few days later.’’
The mother, a performing musician and teacher, is determined to fight her daughter’s case. ‘‘I have not slept these two weeks. I am so tired that when I get home, I can barely help the children. But they have been so supportive and loving.’’
Insisting that doctors perform medical tests to establish rape, she has been escorting her daughter to health facilities for even psychiatric evaluations. Medical reports have so far been inconclusive, compunded by the fact that the rape came to light five days later and the clothes she had been wearing had been washed.
Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Thursday said smears had been sent for DNA tests to Hyderabad. But he refused to respond to what possible smears could they have obtained that link the victim to the accused. Even doctors are increasingly raising questions about the girl’s statements. Yet no one — not the government, not the doctors — deny that the girl’s traumatised.
Superintendent of Police A Telgi denies the charge that the police are not doing enough. ‘‘We are investigating but the media and NGOs can choose to believe whatever imaginary things they want to. It is not as if we haven’t dealt with cases like this before,’’ he said.
As for the girl, she’s unable to figure out why she can longer paint — the one thing she loves most — and why all her friends, barring one, have chosen to abandon her. In her living room hangs a telling picture: one of a girl with her back to the world, alone in a classroom.
And she has good reason to believe she’s still living a nightmare: hospitals turned her away when she first approached them, the police agreed to file her complaint after considerable delay, insensitive officials went public with their own theories, emboldening wagging tongues.
Instead of taking up her case, people have been pointing to the fact that ‘‘she smokes.’’ In short, questioning her morals and, in a strange way, blaming her for her situation. The fact that she’s ‘‘not a Goan’’ — her mother’s a German and father a Kashmiri Muslim and they separated recently — while the boys involved happen to be middle-class Goan boys — she has named two of her seniors and is unsure of the others — has not helped matters.
Local prejudice is playing a part. ‘‘The scary part is that the locals are justifying the rape, saying she has loose morals. After all, she smokes,’’ says Alberina Almeida, an advocate who heads a women’s organisation called Bailancho Saad.
All her college friends seem to have disowned her. While some made statements like ‘‘she’s a nice, innocent girl,’’ none has cared to stay in touch. A lone classmate has stood by her and the mother confesses ‘‘he’s a great help.’’
To complicate her case, the medical history’s sketchy. Mother and daughter were turned away from the Goa medical college when they first approached doctors. They had to check with a number of private practitioners before they could settle for the one who’s attending her now.
‘‘When I returned to my room that day, I went around in circles. I began playing with dogs though I am scared of them. I remember the eyes of the rapists. I saw hell,’’ says the girl before switching off.
Her mother’s had a hard time, what with six children to manage. ‘‘I was shocked the moment I saw her that day. Someone must have drugged her, I told myself. When I probed, I learnt one of the boys had mentioned LSD mushroom. She told me about the rape only a few days later.’’
The mother, a performing musician and teacher, is determined to fight her daughter’s case. ‘‘I have not slept these two weeks. I am so tired that when I get home, I can barely help the children. But they have been so supportive and loving.’’
Insisting that doctors perform medical tests to establish rape, she has been escorting her daughter to health facilities for even psychiatric evaluations. Medical reports have so far been inconclusive, compunded by the fact that the rape came to light five days later and the clothes she had been wearing had been washed.
Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Thursday said smears had been sent for DNA tests to Hyderabad. But he refused to respond to what possible smears could they have obtained that link the victim to the accused. Even doctors are increasingly raising questions about the girl’s statements. Yet no one — not the government, not the doctors — deny that the girl’s traumatised.
Superintendent of Police A Telgi denies the charge that the police are not doing enough. ‘‘We are investigating but the media and NGOs can choose to believe whatever imaginary things they want to. It is not as if we haven’t dealt with cases like this before,’’ he said.
As for the girl, she’s unable to figure out why she can longer paint — the one thing she loves most — and why all her friends, barring one, have chosen to abandon her. In her living room hangs a telling picture: one of a girl with her back to the world, alone in a classroom.