Thanjavur: Like most teenagers, Mala (name changed) too had great dreams but they were shattered when her father raped the schoolgirl and made her pregnant. She is 24 now and recently delivered his third child as he repeatedly abused her over the years after drugging her. Her mother had deserted the family long back and the father had remarried.
The rapist, an auto-rickshaw driver, was arrested last month following Mala’s complaint.
Mala and her third child, aged six weeks, are now being taken care of by a kind woman cop and some hospital staff near Thanjavur while the two older kids are with her stepmother.
“I had dreamt of a career in commerce and economics, but fate decided otherwise. My own father destroyed my life and made me mother of his three children. But I am determined to resume studies and stand on my own feet”, Mala told Deccan Chronicle here on Friday. She expressed hope she would get help “from some kind souls, from this society”.
Father warned her of serious harm if she informed anyone
The question that comes to mind as to why Mala (name changed) did not fight back when her father repeatedly raped her and sired three children, and why she did not report him, evaporates when she narrates her scary story.
After the first abuse—she does not want to go into too many details saying it’s “too traumatic to even think leave alone recall in detail”—he threatened her of serious bodily harm if she talked to anyone about it.
On the other hand, he would even allow her to continue studies and pursue her dream of doing a degree in business administration if she cooperated, he told her. And when she resisted, he shaved her head and branded her all over with hot iron, Mala told DC on the sidelines of a ‘public hearing’ on abuse of women and children, organized by All-India Democratic Womens’ Association (AIDWA) here on Friday. “My first child, a boy is now four-years-old. The second is a girl, 2-1/2 years old. He even allowed me to join the BBA course but I had to discontinue when I became pregnant third time.
Throughout my tenure at school and college, I would keep away from classmates and rush back home as otherwise I would be beaten up”, Mala said.
She said her mother had deserted the family and the father remarried. Together, the two subjected her to physical and mental abuse.
To ensure she suffered in silence, her father had even drugged her. After delivering her third child, a boy, last month, Mala left the baby in a church with a note saying she would not be able to take care of the child.
People found the baby crying and saw the note beside him. Police traced Mala at the bus terminus and took the sobbing mother back to the hospital, where she made a detailed statement about her terrible ordeal over the years.
The auto driver was picked up by the police after that and remanded to custody.
A case under various penal sections of law, including rape, physical assault, threat of life and illegal custody, has been registered against the alleged rapist, according to AIDWA officials.
A kind policewoman and some hospital staff are now taking care of Mala and the baby, but they need a better and permanent arrangement.
“It is sad that in this democratic and civilised country, a girl is not safe even in her house”, said AIDWA vice-president U Vasuki.
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