Five months pregnant, this deaf-mute has a shot at justice

From: Ahmedabad Newsline, India - Sept 5, 2004

Express News Service

Ahmedabad, September 5: THE Women's cell of Crime Branch has arrested one youth for allegedly raping a 22-year-old mentally challenged, deaf and mute girl Neeta Rajput from Meghaninagar. Another accused is absconding. Police identified Dilip alias Harish Muljibhai Vaghela and his friend Vinod Purubhai Chauhan of Gujarat Housing Board Colony, Meghaninagar as the rapists. While Dilip was arrested yesterday evening, Vinod is on the run.

According to Parikshita Gurjar, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Women's Cell, the police first made Neeta comfortable with the help of a deaf-mute school teacher Hasmukh Ghagiya. Once the police won the trust of the girl, she herself told the police about who raped her.

''Neeta told us that someone from the locality where she used to go to do household work raped her. So, we took her to block no 60 of the Gujarat Housing Board, Meghaninagar. On the way, she showed one bike near block no 147 and said that the person who owns the bike had raped her. The police brought Chandrakant, owner of the bike. But Neeta indicated that he was not the person who raped her,'' says Gurjar.

Police then asked Chandrakant to show some photo albums from his house. From the album, Neeta identified Dilip as the person who raped her. Police arrested Dilip on Saturday and he confessed to his crime and also said his friend Vinod Chauhan was also a partner in the crime.

Dilip confessed that he and Vinod forcefully took Neeta along with them on a motorbike and raped Neeta twice — once eight months ago and a second time about five months back — near the mental hospital and threatened her not to tell anyone about that. Right now Neeta is five months pregnant and is in the Mental Hospital near Delhi Darwaja. Neeta's parents had abandoned her at the mental hospital on August 18 after giving a fake address.

The Meghaninagar police identified the parents after they got a call from an informer on September 2.

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