Meerut: After doctors ruled out medical termination of her pregnancy since it was too late, a 13-year-old rape survivor in Meerut’s Lisari Gate gave birth to a baby boy. Aghast that the sordid episode had to end that way, the girl’s father said he doesn’t know how his daughter, a child herself, will bring up another child. The girl was raped allegedly by her teacher.
The girl’s pregnancy came to light after she complained of stomach ache in March. Two of her other sisters who used to accompany her to the teacher who taught them religious texts had showed reluctance in going for the classes, but the family failed to see anything suspicious in this. “Everybody in the family considered him a relative and respected him a lot, but when this matter came to light, we got the shock of our lives. If somebody so dear to the family could do this to us, where are my girls really safe?” said the girl’s mother.
Soon after the incident, the family sold their house in Lisari Gate and moved to another locality in the city where they are now living with different identities. They approached a city court for allowing abortion, but a medical board ruled it out since it could risk the girl’s life.
“Things did not work in our favour. The court denied abortion because it was too late and we had got to know about the matter only on March 20 when my daughter was five months pregnant. We spent the money we got from the sale of the house on the court case and the delivery of the baby. They are a total of six siblings and we already have a lot of financial burden on us,” said the girl’s father who works as a labourer.
The accused was arrested a week after a case was filed on March 21 – after the family protested against the police’s “unwillingness to act in the case”. The district hospital authorities took the DNA sample of the baby to make a watertight case against the teacher who is on trial.
Meanwhile, the district authorities said they are trying to get financial help for the survivor from state government’s Rani Laxmibai Mahila Samman Kosh, a fund recently created to ensure monetary and medical relief to women who are victims of violence.
(Sourced from agencies, Feature image courtesy:oneindia.com)
