delhi

Updated: May 18, 2018 08:47 IST

Hours after her uncle was found hanging, a 20-year-old blind woman, who was allegedly raped in a shanty in central Delhi’s Karol Bagh two weeks ago, said she wanted to withdraw the case.

The dead man, a rickshaw puller, was the sole bread winner of the family that included the rape survivor and her 55-year-old mother. The survivor said that with her uncle gone she did not want to continue the legal battle as the family does not have the resources to meet their basic needs.

“Ab humara koi hai nahi, toh hum gaon chale jayenge (Now that we have no support, we will go back to our village),” she said, adding, “Police have done what they could, it is better to withdraw the case than face legal hassles of court and police station. There is no surety of food or money, fighting the case is unthinkable.”

The man was found hanging around 5am on Thursday from the tree under which their makeshift shanty stands. The rape survivor’s mother said the police and staff of a nearby government mortuary left with the body and there has been no communication since.

“We do not know how to claim the body. We need someone. We think we will let the body be counted as an unclaimed one, and be cremated by the police,” the survivor’s mother said.

The girl was allegedly raped on May 4, when her mother had gone to fetch water from a nearby restaurant and her uncle was away at work.

As told by the victim, a few men tried to lure her with a treat. They allegedly dragged her into the neighbouring shanty when she resisted and raped her.

The survivor had said that she believed two to three men took turns to rape her for over 20 minutes. She said they kept her mouth pressed to ensure she did not scream. Police had, however, claimed that the rape was committed by one man while two others stood guard outside. When the suspects let her go, the survivor crawled back to her jhuggi where her mother found her weeping.

The victim’s mother on Thursday said that after the crime, a team from Delhi Commission for Women had visited them.

“They offered us a sum of Rs 25,000. Despite our need, we could only accept Rs 5,000. I fear if we had kept the entire sum, someone would have murdered us or robbed us. That money, we were told, was deposited in an account. But we don’t know how to handle a bank account... can’t even dial 100 or contact our relatives if an emergency arises,” the rape survivor’s mother said, adding that she will regret leaving her daughter alone that day.

The rape victim has not been counselled after the incident. “No one came here. We had to go to the police station a few times and a team of women cops assisted us. Since then there has been no communication,” she said.

The survivor, who is youngest of five siblings, had lost sight in both her eyes soon after she turned five. She studied up to Class 4 and dropped out as she could not study due to loss of eyesight.