NK's Post

Resentment against hike in bus fare mounting in Bhopal

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NK SINGH Though a Govt. directive has frustrated the earlier efforts of the MPSRTC to increase the city bus fares by as much as 300 per cent, the public resent even the 25 per cent hike. It is "totally unjust, uncalled for and arbitrary", this is the consensus that has emerged from an opinion conducted by "Commoner" among a cross-section of politicians, public men, trade union leaders, and last but not least, the common bus travelling public. However, a section of the people held, that an average passenger would not grudge a slight pinche in his pocket provided the MPSRTC toned up its services. But far from being satisfactory, the MPSRTC-run city bus service in the capital is an endless tale of woe. Hours of long waiting, over-crowding people clinging to window panes frequent breakdowns, age-old fleet of buses, unimaginative routes and the attitude of passengers one can be patient only when he is sure to get into the next bus are some of the ills plaguing the city b...
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Echoes of Aggression

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NK SINGH

Not allowed to marry her lover-boy-next-door and forcibly married to someone else against her will, Prabha, a 14 year Harijan girl of Bhagalpur quietly slipped out of her house one night in utter disgust and Frustration, That was on February 6, 1973. When she was rescued by the police from a ghetto in the same town some nine months later, on October 20, she had a shocking tale to tell.

In her hair-raising account, the poor girl narrated recently to a local magistrate the circumstances in which she had fallen prey to the lust of some wealthy businessmen in the town. During the last nine months, she said, she was criminally assaulted several times by a large number of people including some big businessmen and traders of Bhagalpur, whom she named openly in her statement. She said she was tortured and forced to lead a prostitute's life by them.

The girl's medical examination confirmed that she was a minor girl of about 14-16 and was subjected to frequent sexual assaults.

Prabha's father Bateshwar Das, a postman of the Bhagalpur city post office, had reported to the police regarding the missing of his daughter on February 6. Now that the case has taken quite a new turn- it is no longer a missing girl story the police had to lodge a fresh case under Sections 363 and 372 IPC.

In her statement recorded under Section 164 Cr. P.C. before First Class Magistrate Indradeo Singh, Prabha narrated how on that fateful night she was picked up by some local toughs as soon as she stepped out of her house, and was taken to a nearby village, Lashedia.

After a few days, a big businessman from Bhagalpur came to the village, took her out in a car and raped her, Pracha has alleged. This practice continued subsequently and she became a victim of the lust of other bigwigs of the town, whom she has named in her affidavit.

Prabha said she could recognise the car and the gentlemen concerned. Later on, the poor girl was brought to a house of ill-fame in Massakchak mohalla of Bhagalpur town where she was forced to lead a prostitute's life, Her nightmare ended only when she was rescued by the police, hitherto working on a simple 'missing' girl case, nine months later. 

Since the victim is so small and poor-daughter of a Harijan postman and the people involved in the crime so big, rich and "prestigious" they may be wielding political influence as well one cannot help wondering if the police can be depended upon for a fair trial in this case. 

The Government should entrust the case to the CBI, which may also try to find out how many more Prabhas has been subjected to this treatment by these "prestigious" criminal.

Current

December 1973




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