LUCKNOW, OCT 5: This could have been a national controversy but the din of elections deprived members of the Forum Against Child Abuse, fighting for justice to a minor girl who had allegedly been raped by her father, a government servant, the required media attention.The Forum had organised a week-long dharna at Chitrakoot. On October 2, it had also held a mock court headed by retired Chief Justice of J-K High Court S.C. Mathur in the presence of hundreds of people. The gathering was aghast by the tale narrated by the victim's mother, Ila Pandey.``I could have tolerated being beaten myself, but I could not tolerate such things being done to my daughter,'' said Ila.On the basis of the FIR lodged by his wife, Jagdish Pandey, an employee of the State Dairy Development Department, was arrested but later managed to get bail, provoking a protest by Vanagana, a prominent NGO working in the area for emancipation of the weaker sex.``The local administration advised that the issue should have been solvedwithin the family and not in the manner in which it was fought in public,'' said Huma Khan of the NGO against whom a counter FIR had been lodged by Jagdish, in which he had alleged that he had been unnecessarily tormented and maligned.Meanwhile, the women group's has demanded the severest punishment and a new law to tackle growing cases of sexual abuse of minors. ``Social pressure is necessary to ensure an effective judiciary. It is a pity that inspite of having a law against rape, offenders usually get away with minimum sentence,'' observed retired Chief Justice S.C. Mathur during the mock trial.During the trial, a number of victims of sexual savagery recounted their tales of woe from within the state and also from other places. Nisha Gautam of Lucknow spoke about her daughter who had allegedly been raped by her stepfather and her stepgrandfather. Unable to bear the shame, the 13-year-old girl had reportedly burned herself to death.Jaswant Singh of Rampur recounted the reported torture and murder ofhis sister by her husband and his family. The police had allegedly refused to register a case despite the dying declaration of the victim.The case of Lata, belonging to Kanpur, was also presented by her brother. ``She was brutally beaten for a number of days by her husband and in-laws for not bringing adequate dowry and finally was done to death. But no action has been taken so far,'' he alleged.
