BAREILLY: A gang rape survivor who filed an FIR against two men, family acquaintances who had assaulted her when she was just 12, an attack that left her pregnant a year later, has appealed to "women like me to come forward and fight for justice".
She said she "needed to say this, even if 28 years late" after seeing the support she had received after her story was reported.
TOI had on Thursday written about how her son had convinced her to file an FIR against her violators in 2021, an action that finally led to the arrest of the main accused -- who was found hiding in Hyderabad -- almost three decades after the crime was committed.
Her son, who was born out of rape and abandoned after "family and society's pressure" had traced her and later made her go after the accused men.
UP police have said they have information regarding the other man and he, too, will be nabbed soon. They said they found him in Odisha.
"My son and I have suffered for years and now it is their (the accused) turn to suffer. We will ensure that our fight for justice continues until the court convicts them. I am thankful to the police for arresting one of the accused. The other one will be caught soon. I am sure there will be many women in India like me and I would be happy if they also come forward. My marriage failed because my husband couldn't accept that I was raped as a child," said the woman, now 39.
She said she was raped by the two men, who are brothers, for over a year in 1994-95 in Shahjahanpur.
The accused, Mohammed Razi and his brother Naqi Hasan, who lived in the neighbourhood and were known to the family, had allegedly violated her multiple times.
She was thrashed and threatened to keep quiet.
The issue came to light when she got pregnant.
The accused allegedly threatened her family to stay quiet.
No FIR was filed because of "fear of society".
