Last Word: Raped by Anonymous

(Originally published in The Calcutta Telegraph, October 16, 2003)

You probably remember these names, or at least, these descriptions. Bhanwari Devi, gangraped in Rajasthan; the girl on the Mumbai train, raped in full view of five other passengers who did nothing to stop her assailant; the Swiss diplomat raped as she exited a film screening at Siri Fort auditorium in Delhi four days ago.
If there are no names for the last three, it’s because the media has finally realised that the victim has a right not to have her identity broadcast to the world.
But few of us remember the names of the men who decided that what they were going to do for the day’s entertainment was subject a woman to a terrible assault.
We know the names of other criminals. We know that Manu Sharma stands accused of shooting Jessica Lal. We know that Charles Sobhraj murdered woman after woman after woman. We know that Billa and Ranga were the men who tortured and killed two children called Sanjay and Geeta Chopra; they hanged for that enormous crime.
But we don’t know the identities of rapists. We seldom ask to know more about their lives; we rarely know their faces; we subscribe to a conspiracy of silence. It’s always the victims, named or unnamed, identified by the media in broad hints, who are the focus of discussion.
What could we bring about if we subjected rapists to the same scrutiny that we are not ashamed to bring to bear on murderers? What might happen if the rapist’s family, his colleagues, his friends, learned to see his name in cold print and to shun it?
I don’t know, but after the last fortnight in Delhi—girl raped by four members of the Presidents Bodyguards, diplomat raped in one of the city’s premier cultural spaces, teenager raped by a restaurant chef—I’m willing to set the ball rolling.
So here are the names, selected at random. At random, after all, is the only way that you can compile an honour roll of rapists in a country where 15,000 women are raped every year.
Gyarsa Gujar, Badri Gujar, Ram Sukh Gujar, Ram Karan Gujar and Shravan Panda, accused of the gangrape of Bhanwari Devi. Their victim walked miles to file her complaint, was insulted during the medical examination, and spent years fighting for justice. Memorise those names. They belong near the top of this very select roll, for this was a rape committed in cold blood, to teach a woman who did not know her place a lesson.
Rahul, alias Budh Prakash, is the prime suspect in the rape of a Maulana Azad Medical College student. The police think he stalked his target. The evidence that convicted him was obtained from her sanitary napkin, and that small detail should tell you not just how invasive the rape itself was, but how invasive the process of preparing a case against the perpetrator is.
Raju Tomar and Shrikrishan Kushwaha were minor as opposed to major headline rapists. Their target was a Dalit girl, now dead. The father of one of these 20-year-old men, enraged by the woman’s temerity when she filed a complaint with the police, burned her alive.
Hukam Singh is one of the few rapists to have received his due. (The conviction rate in rape cases currently runs at less than 30 per cent. You have a better shot at getting away with rape than with petty theft, defrauding the income tax authorities, or murder.) Hukam Singh’s victim was just six years old. Villagers lynched him.
Bireshwar Dhali is one of the many men with key political contacts who was accused of being a prime participant in the mass rapes in Sutia. He raped his victim inside the home of her grandparents. She was 18 years old at the time.
Praveen H Chaudhary was a senior police sub-inspector when he decided that his duties included the rape and torture of a tribal woman in Vadodara. He ducked out of the trials several times, was finally remanded to jail, but then was awarded bail.
Preserve this list of names carefully. It may be a difficult task, since the list requires updating every 54 minutes. In India, every hour yields another rapist.