Madurai: The national commission for minorities should come forward to investigate the sexual abuse of a speech-impaired mentally-challenged dalit Christian girl, the NGO, Evidence, has demanded. Its executive director, A Kathir, has alleged that the 26-year-old woman of Thiruvadanai in Ramanathapuram district was sexually abused and tortured by a non-dalit on April 19.
The woman, an orphan, was staying with her aunt and had been alone in the house when the incident happened. Neighbours who heard her cries rushed to her aid, caught the man and handed him over to the police. Though the affected woman was a dalit, the case was not registered under the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act as she was a Christian. A group of experts was summoned to record her statement as she was mentally and physically challenged. But, as she was incoherent, they could not carry out the task and the court postponed the recording of statements to next week.
Kathir said that there were no facilities or equipment to obtain statements from people like the physically and mentally challenged girl. The case itself could be distorted because of her inability to speak clearly. He said that such girls from the dalit community were unable to get proper compensation because the Raganath Mishra panel recommendations to bring dalit Christians in scheduled caste list had not been implemented. He also said that she should be given a compensation of Rs 10 lakh.
Source: Times of India
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