The recent judgement of Madras high court to grant interim bail to accused rapist to initiate a mediation process with the rape victim spurs a huge Criticism from across the Indian society . It eventually made women to think what kind of a justice is this, where a woman is asked to accept a man, who had left you broke, shattered and shamed? How can you ask her to let him touch her again in her will, when he had touched a hundred times against that will? How can you ask her child to call that man a ‘father’, when he has shamed the very face of humanity?   On june 24 , 2015 a Madras High Court judge, Justice D Devadass granted interim bail to accused V Mohan to initiate a mediation process with the rape victim, who was a minor at the time of the incident and now bears a child from the unfortunate event in 2002.

How can you ask a rape victim to marry the rapist, who torn apart her body, stole her dreams and murdered her innocence?

The judgment said: “The victim-girl has become mother of a child. But as on date, she is nobody’s wife. So she is an unwed mother. Now there is a big question mark looming large before the girl as well as her child, who is completely innocent. Generally, in this type of cases, the girl concerned is stated to be a victim, but really speaking the child born out of such a physical contact is also a victim. The child is a victim of circumstances. She was born to suffer a social stigma for no fault of her. It is a great tragedy.”

Speaking to the Media , the victim speaks up about the unlawful judgement after four days, the 21-year-old woman, an unwed mother of a six-year-old girl, has known no peace. Anger and despair have been her only companions in the single-room tenement she calls home, in a village some 80 km from Cuddalore.

“Did the judge ever think how I suffered all these years? He knew I had a baby from that rape. And now this single order of his wants me to go through that suffering again.”

The victim said ,I was 14 when i was raped in 2008. I can never forget that summer afternoon of 2008. Two days before her my Class X examinations, an undergraduate student assaulted me.After that I had lost my parents and is the mother of a child born after the rape.

Justice Devadass’s order came on an appeal and a bail plea filed by the accused, V Mohan, who was convicted and sentenced to seven years and was slapped a fine of Rs 2 lakh by a Mahila Court in Cuddalore in 2014. He has not served his term. Two of his associates were charged with lesser offences.Claiming that a similar case which he had referred for mediation was near a “happy conclusion,” (the accused had agreed to marry the victim), Justice Devadass, in his order, said: “In the facts and circumstances, the case before us is a fit case for attempting compromise between the parties. ‘Mediation’ mode is best suited to them.”

But the victim says she will never agree to a settlement. “I will fight it out. My entire life. I will show my daughter the way I struggled and fought to survive.”

‘One day, I’ll tell my girl her father was a rapist’

“If I go for a settlement, one day my child will question me for taking up his offer of money. If I agree to his offer, may be we will get something. But what will be her future… being brought up as the daughter of a rapist. Even if her father is a rapist, she will realise one day that her mother struggled for her. She will learn it the hard way. That will make her a good woman,” she said.

She added that “He added drugs to a cold drink and raped me. We knew each other and had common friends. After I narrated this to my parents, he threatened them. My father was attacked. He (the rapist) pressured me to go for an abortion. He kept denying his role until the DNA report came in. That led to his conviction” .

“It was unfair on the part of the judge to give such a judgment without seeking my opinion. He forgot that I was the victim… After putting me into this ordeal for seven years, all of a sudden he (the rapist) agrees to marry me. All he wants is to step out of prison by agreeing to mediation,” she said. “Only those who live here and see my plight understand the kind of problems I have undergone… There are several ways to make money. But you can’t buy dignity. Isn’t this order, without seeking my opinion, now asking me to place my self-respect at the mercy of the man who raped me? How can I have a life with him? I can only request the top judge (Chief Justice) to cancel this order.” She says one day she will tell her daughter who she is. “Whenever she asks me about her father, I tell her that she doesn’t have one. One day, when she reaches that age, I will tell her that her father was a rapist.”

Dear, stalwarts of Indian justice, if you are listening:

“Stop Passing Such Judgements Of Forgiveness To Protect Your Own Daughters Under Your Own Law.”