A 22-year-old tribal woman working as a farm labourer in Gujarat’s Kutch district was allegedly repeatedly raped by the owner of the farm. The police have booked the owner based on a complaint lodged by the victim.
The alleged incident had occurred on September 16 in Ratnal village of Kutch district but the FIR was registered only on Tuesday as the accused Ranchhod Ahir had threatened to kill husband of the woman if she disclosed the incident.
The tribal couple are migrant workers from Dahod in Gujarat.
According to the police, they were working as labourers at Ahir‘s farm when the incident occurred. After the incident, the traumatised couple returned to Dahod without approaching the police.
However, with the help of an NGO, Majdur Adhikar Manch, which works for the cause of migrant workers, a zero FIR was registered at Sabarmati police station in Ahmedabad after pressure from different sections including the human rights cell of the Gujarat police.
According to Mina Jadav of the NGO, officials at Sabarmati police station initially refused to register the FIR but after the intervention of the human rights cell, a complaint was lodged and subsequently transferred to Kutch.
A zero FIR can be filed at any police station and can be transferred to the appropriate police station under whose jurisdiction a crime has taken place.
The accused has been booked under sections 376 (2) (n) (committing rape repeatedly), 354 (A)(1)(i) (sexual harassment), 506 (2) (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
No arrest was yet made in the case but he police have launched the probe based on the FIR.