Are BHU and UP Police Ganging Up on Gangrape Survivor?

The Banaras Hindu University (BHU) has made headlines for all the wrong reasons in recent times. There have been unexplained explosions, controversial terminations, protests on campus, and now, one student has accused the university of denying justice to a rape survivor. Amit (name changed) says he was gangraped on campus and that since he filed a complaint, he is being intimidated by the police and university officials who want him to drop the matter. “The university and police department are both working together,” Amit told Newslaundry. “They don’t want the matter to be investigated so that the truth doesn’t come out.”

On the night of August 13, around 9.30 pm, Amit was going to the BHU hostel for dinner. He spotted a white car – bearing the BHU logo – in front of the Institute of Medical Sciences. Five men were seated inside. According to Amit, three of them appeared to be in their 30s while the other two were over 50. “Three of them stepped out of the car but didn’t say anything,” said Amit. “One of the older men sitting inside told me he wanted to talk about something so I peeked into the window and asked what the matter was. They didn’t reply but the three men standing outside grabbed my hands and feet and threw me into the car.” The assailants allegedly forced him to drink alcohol, threatened him with a knife and eventually drugged him with a “chloroform-like substance”. Amit claims that he was raped by the men, and around 11.30 pm he was dumped near the agricultural department of the university. In his injured and intoxicated state, he somehow managed to make his way to his room. The next day he contacted the police and filed a written complaint, demanding an investigation into the incident.

Amit’s written complaint to the police, dated August 14, 2016.

“I went to the Lanka police station around 10 am the next day and related the details of the incident,” Amit said. “They [police] told me that if they file an FIR then I would be publicly humiliated. They said that my name and face would be all over the papers.” The police’s hesitation to act is evidenced by the fact that the case was registered on August 17, three days after Amit filed his complaint. During those three days, Amit alleges that he was constantly pressurised and intimidated by the police to consider a “compromise”.          

The police are quite evidently sceptical about Amit’s  allegations. He’s had to undergo two medical examinations and the police insist Amit “did not suffer any injuries”, according to Sanjeev Kumar Mishra, Station House Officer (SHO) of Lanka police station. Amit, on the other hand, disputes the result of the exams. He said the first medical exam wasn’t even conducted by a doctor, but by a hospital attendant who later informed the doctor of his findings. Following this, Amit demanded a second exam, which he felt was even worse. “They took a torch and a pair of tongs and within a minute they finished the exam,” he said.

Amit has also alleged university officials are trying hard to ensure that the case doesn’t move forward. “Some people who work with the Chief Proctor, they told my father that this issue will not only besmirch the university’s name but my name as well. They told him that I should stay quiet and study and the university will handle the matter internally,” Amit told Newslaundry.

Ravi Pandey, a local journalist, corroborated Amit’s claims that there’s been an effort to hush up the matter. “The incident was initially buried by the police,” Pandey told Newslaundry. “But when the local media reported on it, the police was put under pressure.”

Mishra vehemently denied that the police tried to influence Amit’s actions. He blamed Amit for the delay in registering an FIR, saying that “he [Amit] went away for a couple of days”. However, Amit claimed that not only was he in Varanasi during those three days, he was also subjected to a 10-hour long interrogation session on August 15, between 2 pm and midnight.

There are other problems that Mishra has with Amit’s account. “His [Amit’s] version is that there were 5 people in a Santro car and he was the sixth person in the same car,” said Mishra. “Can you explain how a crime like this can happen in that car?” He also said that the location where Amit alleges he was picked up from was one of the busiest areas in the campus that is crowded well into the night. He also insisted that the investigation has not been compromised in any way. “We are not being pressurised at all by BHU. And why would BHU do such a thing?” he asked.

Pandey offered an answer. “If we look at the last few months, we can see that BHU has been constantly involved in controversies. And now another controversy has come up. That’s the reason why they’re trying to suppress this case,” he claimed.

Vice-Chancellor of BHU, Girish Chandra Tripathi, has so far maintained silence on this issue. “So many incidents happen every day, we don’t give statements on everything,” Tripathi said when Newslaundry contacted him. When pressed, Tripathi lashed out at the media, saying, “Aap log jo kar rahe hai, us se desh nahi bachega to aap kaha se bachenge? [What you people are doing (the media), that’s going to destroy the country and you as well]”.

Two weeks have passed since the incident, but no arrests have been made despite the fact that Amit has identified one of his attackers (a lab attendant at the Institute of Medical Sciences). Between an indifferent university administration and an unsupportive police force, chances of an unbiased investigation – and justice – appear quite remote.

Click here for an update on the case, as of August 31.