The child mother: Story of a 14-year-old rape victim in Gujarat

“Some months ago, I had gone to a field to fetch firewood. The four Thakore boys who stay around my house attacked me. They are my second cousins. I did not tell anyone about what they did to me. But when my stomach started bloating, a woman in the village told me I was pregnant. That’s when I told my father about the attack,” she says.

In August, the father filed a police complaint at the nearby Laghanaj police station. “A woman constable took me to the civil hospital where the doctor said that I was already seven months pregnant and can’t go in for an abortion. So I decided to have the baby,” she says, after much prodding about the alleged multiple rapes over months.

The accused are all farm labourers between 18 and 21 and are currently in police custody.

The baby cries out again. The young mother breastfeeds her, swatting flies and whistling to calm the baby down. “There is no one to help me. Neighbours, including our relatives, don’t talk to us much. All the girls of my age, who used to play with me, are now married,” she says.

The girl stays alone for most part of the day. Her father goes to work and her brother to school early in the morning. Besides the baby, the small television set in the room fights for her attention.

Her mother died of cancer when she was two, so while her brother could go to the village primary school, she had to take care of the home — cooking, washing utensils and bringing the firewood for cooking.

It’s early afternoon and her father has returned from work. A construction worker, an accident has left him partially blind. “I make about Rs 5,000 a month doing odd jobs. I have raised my children myself and will raise this baby too till she is a year old, and then give her for adoption. However, if my daughter wants to raise her, she can,” he says.

Trying to make sense of what happened to his daughter, he says, “She is not mentally sharp, why is why such a thing happened to her and to no other girl in the village. One of the boys stays right opposite the house and my daughter knew all of them from childhood as they are distant relatives.”

His daughter, looking downcast all this while, suddenly perks up when she talks of her favourite TV show CID. The father says he bought the TV and a VCD set for her on a loan. “She knows all the TV channels and the shows,” says her brother.

As her brother talks, she plays with two stray puppies outside her home. A few curious neighbours pace near the home. The father notices them and says, “The local SP, KB Patel, has told us to alert him in case there are any threats from the villagers. They may talk among themselves, but they dare not tell us anything directly.”

He says his elder sister, who lives in nearby Vijapur taluka, stopped visiting him after she learned of the alleged rape and pregnancy. “She says my daughter has brought disrepute to the family,” says the father as he begins cutting potatoes and cauliflower for lunch.

“Since she has to look after the baby, I do most of the household chores these days,” he says, pausing to tell the girl, who is now carrying the baby around the room, to prop the baby and support her neck.

Outside their hut, Sitaben Thakore, an elderly relative of the girl, says, “Why did she always go alone to fetch wood? None of our daughters go alone for anything. Both my daughters are married.”

After he learnt of his daughter’s rape, the father now makes it a point that her brother accompanies her when she goes out to fetch firewood.

Sarpanch Navinji Thakore, a relative of one of the accused, says, “At a meeting of village elders, we decided that since the boys have done wrong, they will have to face the consequences.”

Shunned by her own, help poured in from unexpected quarters for her. ONGC- Mehsana gave her Rs 10,800 for medical bills and the local police station offered financial assistance of Rs 5,000. Sub-inspector KB Patel has been monitoring the family since the FIR was filed and keeps visiting them.

Patel says, “We picked up all four boys on the same day she reported the incident. From her statement, it seems she was misled by these youth and raped for several months. She said that she wants to give birth to the child and will not abort it.”

It’s now time for her favourite TV show. “They are going to show CID now,” she says, smiling. Eyes glued to TV, she
occasionally turns to look at her sleeping baby.