Silence of the lamb

Kumar Rakesh / TNN / Dec 17, 2006, 02:09 IST

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The quiet after the storm is deafening. That, perhaps, is just the way the "victim" of the alleged rape by Gaganjit Singh Barnala wants it.

CHANDIGARH: The quiet after the storm is deafening. That, perhaps, is just the way the "victim" of the alleged rape by Gaganjit Singh Barnala wants it.
In the sun outside her poky room that has an uneven road leading to it, the woman turns her face away when asked why she went hostile in her own case on Friday.
Sitting among women who are as dreadfully silent as she is, the middle-aged protagonist of the sordid saga takes refuge beneath a veil that she uses to cover a face the winter sun doesn't seem to brighten up.
"She has not been well since yesterday," a neighbour volunteers, shielding the 'victim', a Bengali from 24 Parganas. "She never wanted to talk about this issue anyway."

The answers, obviously, aren't coming from here. And there are many. What happened that led to the sudden volte face? How did a woman who swore to battle for justice incredibly maintain she had never been wronged? Did anyone pressure her?
What was the role of the police in this? And, for that matter, is anything being done at all on the witness protection front?
In fact, the answers aren't even with the police. An otherwise open and eloquent IG, S K Jain, ducks under the "sub-judice" umbrella when confronted.

"We will take the best possible legal measures," he said, however, holding that the police will pursue the case. "It would not be prudent to speak about it now."
In the UT Police there are whispers that the 'victim' was being given all-round protection by the Punjab Police as her shack in Naya Gaon falls in that state.
So, if anything, they should be the ones answering questions on witness-protection and handling insinuations on whether they let anyone influence the hapless woman.
The accused, after all, is from an influential family. There's no alibi in it anywhere, though.
Legal experts say the police have been left with scarce little to infuse life back into the case. A clinical and rigorous cross-questioning of the victim may be an option, and the only hope. But it's a tough call.
Crime Branch officers, keeping a brave front, said on Saturday that all is not lost. The statements of doctors, who saw the woman first-hand as she staggered bleeding into GMS-16 on August 12, could also be significant.
But as of now, all those who were with the 'victim' in her desperate travail have uncrossed their fingers.

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