‘If I die, nobody will call me a prostitute’: Rape victim who killed self after taunts, prolonged legal battle

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Bhilai: “If I die, nobody will call me a prostitute anymore.” These were the last words of the rape victim in Bhilai, who committed suicide after a one-year-long legal battle and taunts from locals. 

The deceased, a rape victim, was found hanging from the ceiling fan in her room on Thursday when cops came to her house to deliver the court's summon for next year in the ongoing rape case.  

According to a report in the Indian Express, the suicide note, written in Hindi, indicates that she was also a bit disappointed with the prosecutor and the way the case was progressing.

“Whenever I go to court on the date I am called, the judge is not present in court,” she wrote in her suicide note. 

The next hearing for the case was on Feb 2. 

The deceased was raped by a doctor and two constables of the Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital in Bhilai in June 2014 when she had gone there for some treatment. 

The victim's brother told that the accused doctor kept his sister in hospital for three days by telling her that she was suffering from jaundice and then raped her. 

She was later blackmailed and extorted by the three accused, who claimed that they have made a video of the incident and threatened to release it if she refused to pay.   

It was on January 2015, almost six months after the incident, that she told her parents about it, who later approached the police. 

Initially, the local police tried to hush up the issue but later arrested the three accused after filing an FIR.

The suicide note also accuses the Public Prosecutor of threatening the victim's family. 

In her suicide note, the girl also said her lawyer, Kalpana Deshmukh, told her there was little hope of her getting justice, and that she would be made to run around in court. 

The girl's brother said they were getting threatening calls from the accused. The family was being threatened to withdraw the complaint. 

Following the suicide by the rape victim, who was pursuing B.Sc,  local police has registered a complaint and an investigation is on. 

“We will reach a conclusion in the case. Action will taken against all the accused. All those who have been named will be questioned, including the lawyers,” said Rajesh Agarwal, ASP, Bhilai.