18 years and counting: The unending ordeal of the Vithura gangrape case victim

Almost 18 years after she was rescued from the flesh trade, the victim of the once infamous Vithura gangrape case is now perhaps paying the price for the delays in the trial by having to testify in 15 different cases. The girl was a minor when she was lured by a person in 1995 with the offer of a job and was instead sold off into the flesh trade. She was allegedly raped multiple times by a group of persons in various locations until she was rescued and the case became public. Like other infamous cases of rape in Kerala, the case was called the Vithura rape case since the victim hailed from the village of the same name. The case found its way into the limelight over allegations that Malayalam film actor Jagathy Sreekumar, several state businessmen and a government official were involved in the sexual exploitation of the girl. The Malayalam film comedian was subsequently acquitted in the case but the trial against 35 persons was still to be completed.   [caption id=“attachment_1046873” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Has the judicial system failed this victim. Representational image. Reuters[/caption] The victim in the case meanwhile had faded into the background as the accused continued to file appeals in higher courts. Since 1996, she got married and even had a child. In 2011 she appealed to the Kerala High Court to club all the trials into one case but while her plea was turned down, the trial court was told to examine her simultaneously in all cases. With the trial beginning again, and facing the prospect of having to testify 15 times, the victim sought to make her statement over a single day but was told by the court that the request was ‘impractical’, the Hindu reported . However, she was assured that the schedule would be made as short as possible and also that she could be provided protection, the Hindu reported. In the past, the court had also taken note of the victim’s reluctance to appear before the it and pointed out that the delay was equivalent to mocking the court and India’s judicial system, the report stated. The Indian Express quoted unnamed family sources in the woman’s family saying that she had got no support from the government and had earlier been assured by the police that the case was being split into multiple cases in order to avoid being examined by a group of defence lawyers. The report also quoted lawyer HS Subhalekshmi as saying that the victim did not want to relive the trauma and on one occasion even had to give up a job after running into one of the accused in the case. Subhalekshmi was quoted as saying: The woman had not done anything to delay the trial. Governments did not try to speed up the trial until the Delhi gangrape case Whether the woman will finally turn up to testify in 15 different cases and if it will ensure convictions, remains to be seen, but the case is perhaps just more evidence of how the criminal justice system can fail the victims due to delays.