‘I will get justice for the raped women even if I have to die for it’

One woman’s courage is responsible for the first arrest in the first rape case to be registered in Ahmedabad. But for Jannatbibi Kallub...

One woman’s courage is responsible for the first arrest in the first rape case to be registered in Ahmedabad. But for Jannatbibi Kallubhai Sheikh, the arrest of Ratilal Rathod alias Bhavani Singh, who is accused of murder, rioting and raping five women in Naroda Patiya on February 28, is hardly cause for cheer yet.

‘‘I am going to do everything I can to see this man behind bars, even if I have to die for it,’’ says Jannatbibi. Rathod, a 50-year-old Ahmedabad Municipal Transport Service driver, was remanded to judicial custody today.

I saw him rape, kill those women: Jannatbibi (right). Express photo

Jannatbibi, who says she witnessed the rape and murder of women during the February 28 Naroda Patiya massacre, filed a complaint in the case, submitted written statements and even travelled to New Delhi to plead her case.

‘‘From the very first day, I have been telling everyone that I saw this man killing people and raping not less than five young women. I gave a written statement to the Crime Branch, I filed a complaint at the Shah Alam police chowki. And when Sonia Gandhi came here, I gave her a written statement as well,’’ she says.

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Jannatbibi met the President and several ministers during her New Delhi visit. ‘‘There too, I told everyone that I could identify the rapists and murderers. I repeatedly named Bhavani Singh in Delhi too.’’ She says she recognised Rathod since he lives with his family in a housing society behind Naroda Patiya. But she only knows him as Bhavani Singh. ‘‘I don’t know any Ratilal Rathod, his name is Bhavani Singh,’’ she says. ‘‘I didn’t know the rest, but we’ve seen Bhavani Singh several times.’’

According to Jannatbibi, it was Bhavani Singh who surveyed their homes and gave the green signal to the rest of the mob that was waiting outside. It was Jannatbibi’s testimony that helped bring to light the brutal murder of Kausar Bano, the eight-month pregnant woman who was dragged out of her home, whose stomach was torn open with a sword and whose foetus was burnt before her eyes.

‘‘Many of us who were hiding saw the brutal murder, but we were so frightened we could not come out to help,’’ says Jannatbibi.

‘‘When we visited Naroda Patiya after a few days, I met Singh’s daughter, there, looking bright and cheerful in a salwar kameez. She said, ‘Aao paani piten hain (Come, we’ll serve you water)’. I told her ‘bahut paani pilaya tum logon ne (you people have given us enough water)’. She just laughed.’’