Missing for 10 Years, Rape Survivor Returns to Testify; Accused Gets Life, Govt Sanctions ₹15 Lakh Compensation
Chennai (The Uttam Hindu): It is often seen in films that the victim or witness is given security and presented in the court so that justice can be done. But this became a reality in a rape case in Chennai. Here the hearing of a rape case that happened ten years ago was going on, when suddenly the victim, who was missing for ten years, appeared in the court and told the painful story of the atrocity that happened to her when she was 12 years old. On the basis of the victim's courageous testimony, the court has sentenced the accused to life imprisonment and ordered the government to give a compensation of Rs 15 lakh to the victim.
According to the Times of India report, this shocking incident is from the year 2015. At that time, an innocent 12-year-old girl lived in a rented house with her family in Chennai. The landlord's 41-year-old son-in-law Abbas Ali had an evil eye on the girl. On 7 February 2015, Abbas Ali kidnapped the girl and took her to Dindigul, about 400 kilometers from Chennai. There, he raped the girl in a hotel and then left her there and fled.
Here in Chennai, the girl's family filed a missing person report. Two days later, the girl somehow reached home and told her mother about her ordeal. The mother immediately filed a police complaint about the girl, but after this something happened which made the case complicated.
The family left Chennai after feeling a threat to their lives from the accused. The girl and her mother started living in a village, but the accused Abbas Ali found them there too and threatened to kill them if they went back to Chennai or testified in court. The mother and daughter somehow managed to escape from there too. To fulfill their daily needs, both mother and daughter started working as laborers and started living in hiding.
Meanwhile, the case continued in the Chennai court and the state's All Woman Police continued to search for them. Finally, last year the police succeeded in finding the mother and daughter.
Public Prosecutor Anitha said that the girl was brought to Chennai with full security and presented in the court. The victim, who is now 22 years old, was initially hesitant to tell her story, but then she courageously narrated the horrific brutality that happened to her when she was 12 years old.
Taking into consideration the victim's testimony, the mental and financial harassment she and her mother had to face after the incident, and the ten-year long struggle for justice, the court convicted the accused Abbas Ali and sentenced him to life imprisonment. Along with this, the court also ordered the Tamil Nadu government to pay a compensation of Rs 15 lakh to the victim daughter.
