Madwadih is a small village in the Gomiya block of Bokaro district. There is no means of livelihood in or around this village. The hilly and rocky soil, devoid of irrigation, does not lend itself to agriculture. The people of the village go either to Bokaro or to Ramgarh for work, or dig coal in the illegal coal mines operating in Rajrappa and its neighbourhood. During the rains even the coal mining comes to a stop.
A 16 year old girl from this village was employed at Rs 3000 per month by hotel owner Dileep Sao in Chitarpur, Ramgarh, to do the work of sweeping and mopping at his hotel. But just a few days afterwards, she was subjected to rape under threat.
After a few days, on 7 December he brought another girl from the same village on the pretext of giving her employment. On the night of 15 December when the two girls were sleeping in their room Dileep Sao came with two other men and then all three men gang raped both the girls. This caused one of the girls, a 13-year-old to bleed and the three rapists ran away leaving the girl injured.
The girl’s condition steadily deteriorated, and seeing her condition, she was brought to the hospital on the evening of the next day, but she died on the way to the hospital. At first Dileep Sao, with the help of the police, had her declared an unclaimed body, but two boys from Gomiya informed her family members. On the third day the body was handed over to the parents of the girl.
The police, who connived with Dileep Sao in this heinous crime, tried their best to hush up this matter. At first the newspapers also showed no interest but the anger of the poor adivasis and poor women burst forth at this indifference shown by the BJP government which had recently come to power by promising to work for the adivasis.
When the CPI(ML) called for a protest and road block to demand the arrest of the culprits, thousands of people spontaneously came out on the streets. Some from the angry crowd even set fire in the hotel. Giving in to pressure from the protest, the hotel owner surrendered but the other two culprits have not so far been either named or arrested. As the 16-year-old rape survivor knew neither of their names, the police is finding it easy to shield the culprits. Even the FIR of rape and murder has been written very lightly by the police. However, the FIR registered against the adivasis for arson in the hotel has been slapped with several severe provisions, and one or two of the people named as accused are those who are susceptible to striking deals with the authorities.
While most Jharkhand parties remained silent on this matter, the CPI(ML) and AIPWA pressed ahead with their initiatives for action and justice. AIPWA National General Secretary Meena Tiwari along with a 15 member AIPWA team visited the village on 4 February, met and spoke with the rape victim and her parents, the parents of the dead victim, as well as other villagers, and addressed a press conference on 5 February in the capital Ranchi. The team attempted to meet the Jharkhand Chief Minister, chairperson of the Women’s Commission, and Minister for Women and Child Development, but none gave the team an appointment.
On 6 February AIPWA and RYA staged a dharna at the Ramgarh block headquarters. Addressing the dharna Meena Tiwari said that the poor people and adivasis would give a prompt and fitting reply to the BJP Government. Through the dharna a memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister was submitted to the SDO, making the following demands:
1. Speedy trial in the matter of gang rape of the two minor girls and murder of one of them, and punishment within 3 months to the culprits.
2. Immediate arrest of the other 2 rapists who are definitely powerful people.
3. The dead victim was aged 13 and therefore a case of child labour is justified against Dileep Sao, but the police have failed to make this. A case of child labour should be registered against Dileep Sao.
4. The role of the thana in-charge of Ramgarh and Maruvathadh in this whole matter has been one of shielding the guilty. They should be immediately suspended and action taken against them.
5. For the past few months the thana in-charge of Rajrappa has been staying at the rape-murder accused Dileep Sao’s Vasundhara Vatika Hotel, therefore his role should also be investigated.
6. Action must be taken on the doctors who wrote a false medical report on the death of the victim.
7. A compensation of 5 lakhs to the family of the dead victim, and a compensation of 5 lakhs plus employment for the other victim must be given.
8. The case of damage to the hotel appears to have been filed with the intent to weaken the protest against the rapes; therefore this case must be taken back.
9. The illegal coal mining operations by Dileep Sao and his patrons must be investigated.
The Jharkhand AIPWA unit sent this charter of demands to the Chief Minister on behalf of the entire Jharkhand State on 12 February, the Foundation Day of AIPWA. If these demands are not met it was decided to hold a protest in front of the CM on 2 March. Meena Tiwari, Geeta Mandal, Gunni Oraon, Jayanti, Sushma Mehta, Shobha Devi, Neeta Bediya, Rupa Besra, Bitiya Manjhi, Savita Singh, Soni Tiriya, and Shanti Sen were members of the enquiry committee and present at the press conference.
After protests in several districts AIPWA submitted this memorandum addressed to the CM on 12 February. Women in large numbers protested in Deogarh, Kodarma, Rajdhanwar, Garhwa, Dumka, Gomiya, and Ranchi, after which the memorandum was sent to the Chief Minister.