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India: Justice for Sabina

India: Justice for Sabina

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by IDWFED published Jul 20, 2017 12:00 AM
Contributors: Gharelu Kamgaar Sangathan (GKS)
On January 29, 2014, a gruesome and shocking incident took place in Gurugram, where a 14-year-old domestic worker named Sabina Khatun’s body was found hanging in her employer's house. Gharelu Kamgar Sanghatan is determined to bring justice to Sabina and challenge the habitual practice of miscarriage of justice in rape cases in Haryana.

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INDIA -

On January 29, 2014, a gruesome and shocking incident took place in Gurugram, where a 14-year-old domestic worker named Sabina Khatun’s body was found hanging in her employer's house. This incident happened at the residence of Mr. Vijay Beri in S-15/19, DLF, Phase 3, Gurugram, Haryana .  

The minor's family was certain that she had been raped and murdered. Police initially refused to register FIR, but on the intervention of the Gharelu Kamgaar Sangathan (GKS) - a domestic workers' organization, the case was registered under sections 302 and 307 of Indian Penal Code (IPC). The FIR named Mr. Vijay Beri and his two sons, Apoorva Beri and Abhishek Beri, as primary suspects in this case. Even after FIR registration, police refused to arrest the suspected culprits, Mr. Beri and his two sons. On the contrary, the police arrested women’s rights activists and GKS team members (later released) and went on threatening the community members with charging them with rioting and hooliganism.

The first post-mortem, conducted on 30th of January 2014 only mentioned asphyxia as the cause of death. There was no mention of sexual assault of the victim. Being dissatisfied by the results of the post- mortem, the victim’s brother moved an application before the CJM Gurugram, to conduct the post mortem again in PGI Rohtak , Haryana; and the application was allowed. The employer offered Rs. 3 lakh to the family members of the deceased and asked them not to demand an inquiry into the death. They refused to accept any amount of money and instead demanded full justice in this case.  

With the investigation process going nowhere inspite of forming an SIT in this case, the victim’s brother filed a writ petition in Chandigarh High court in January, 2016 with the support of GKS for CBI investigation, challenging the delay in the release of the forensics lab analysis report of the second post-mortem. Under pressure in December 2016, the FSL report was release and it clearly stated that the DNA of the seminal samples of the accused Apoorva Beri and one Om Prakash who was probably the Driver of the Beri Family, matched that of the samples/vaginal swabs taken from Sabina’s body. This proves sexual act/ assault against the victim by these two accused. As the victim was a minor, the charge was made under the POSCO Act. The police could not however arrest Apoorva Beri as he had in the meantime fled the country and is now staying in Canada.

Noting the conclusive nature of the evidence, the family of the accused aggressively pursued the family members both in Delhi and their home village, offering a larger sum of money. Their threats and pressures came down on the family of the victim, who are from a very poor background; and they withdrew the case.

Gharelu Kamgar Sanghatan is determined to bring justice to Sabina and challenge the habitual practice of miscarriage of justice in rape cases in Haryana.

Source: India: Protest at Gurgaon about Sabina Case-rape and murder of a minor domestic worker case

Story Type: News

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