Chhattisgarh high court has directed the Raigarh superintendent of police (SP) to receive a complaint from a woman alleging rape by Congress leader and industrialist Naveen Jindal and his associate D Bhargava, manager, Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL).
The high court in its order dated January 6 had told the SP Raigarh to receive the complaint and forward the same to the police station concerned for proceeding ahead in the matter in accordance with the law laid down by Supreme Court.
However, even after two days Raigarh SP Dr Anand Chhabra has failed to do so. When dna tried to contact Dr Chhabra, he said, "I'm in a video conference and it will take 3 to 4 hours. We'll talk later." Till the filing of this report, there was no further response from SP Raigarh.
The matter pertains to a widow, a resident of Tapranga village in Tamnar Tehsil of Raigarh district. She had alleged that since 1997-98, Jindal Steel & Power Limited have been trying to grab her land for their thermal power plant coming up at Tamnar. However, she had refused to part ways with her land.
Talking on her behalf, Supreme Court laywer Manohar Lal Sharma, who was in Raigarh for the case hearing, alleged that, "In 2001, Jindal along with Bhargava had visited the victim's house and raped her because the victim refused to part way from her land."
She went to police to register a complaint, but the police booked them only under IPC section 509 which entails to word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman. Despite repeated requests, police failed to entertain her complaint as per her statement. Section 509 results in simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine, or with both.
Sharma criticised the media silence stating when it's rape in Delhi, it's a headline for all newspapers and channels, but when it's a village woman, nobody bothers.
Meanwhile, spokesperson on behalf of Naveen Jindal and JSPL termed these allegations baseless and motivated. He said, "All these allegations are part of a big conspiracy, and to malign our name. We have full faith in judiciary and hope it will bring the truth." He said, the court has clearly stated that "this court has not passed any order nor has made any observations on the merits of the issue."
