Tribal girls' insistence on reporting gang-rape brings attention, development to Maoist-hit village in Madhya Pradesh

The Hindu

05-05-2025

Two electricians are installing a power meter at Shyamlal Tekam's house, while another has climbed an electric pole to replace the cables. Meters are also being installed in other houses, most of them mud structures with thatched roofs, at Duglai village in Madhya Pradesh's Balaghat district. Missing for decades, a road has also been sanctioned for the village. Electric poles were installed in the village about 12 years ago and locals say that within weeks the cables were damaged and the village has been without electricity ever since. However, work began after the gang-rape of three tribal girls and a woman was reported.
Isolated from the mainstream world until 10 days ago, officials of the district administration, police officers, and politicians have been visiting the village every day since the crime was reported. Deep in the forests of Balaghat, Duglai is locked by hills on all sides and falls inside the region's core Naxal-affected belt. Its population of about 130 speaks the Gondi dialect. With no agricultural land around, the village economy depends on collecting and selling minor forest produce, including tendu leaves.
On the night of April 23, sisters Rakhi (20) and Puja (16); and sisters Reena (17), Priya (14), and Geeta (6) (all names changed to protect identity), accompanied by their uncle Chamru Tekam, had gone to the neighbouring Thakurtola village, about two kilometres from theirs, to attend a wedding.
As the girls started walking back home around 1.30 a.m., seven men, who had also attended the wedding, allegedly chased them down on their motorcycles and caught hold of them midway. According to local police, the accused thrashed Mr. Chamru and threatened him, and forced the girls into the forest. Ms. Geeta was threatened and forced to sit nearby. The men took turns in raping the three minor girls and the 20-year-old. Before leaving the spot, they threatened the victims against disclosing the assault to anyone.
The survivors finally returned to the village around 4 a.m. and shared their ordeal. On April 24, the parents of the victims, along with locals from Duglai and Thakurtola, went to Bhagatpur, the accused's village, to complain to their families, but were allegedly turned away.
'They first refused to believe that their sons had done this and later offered us money to settle the matter amongst ourselves,' Ms. Reena's father, Ashok Tekam (name changed), said.
Balaghat Superintendent of Police (SP) Nagendra Singh told The Hindu that while some locals favoured 'settling the matter to avoid going to the police', the girls stood their ground.
'The village had been under the influence of Maoists for a long time and people have avoided getting involved with the police and administration. Now, a police team is visiting every day. They have also started opening up but are yet to fully comprehend the gravity of the incident,' Mr. Singh said.
On April 25, the girls, their parents and members of some tribal groups reached the Godri police check-post and a First Information Report (FIR) was filed with charges of gang-rape, assault, and the provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. By evening, the police arrested the accused, identified as brothers Lokesh Matre (22) and Inglesh Matre (19); brothers Ajayendra Bahe (27) and Maniram Bahe (21); Raju Bagdate (21); Rajendra Sabre (24); and Lal Chand Khare (34).
While the accused are currently being held in judicial custody, the survivors are staying at a government children's home in Balaghat town.
Ms. Reena, who with the other survivors is visiting her family with a police team, said that the pressure from the accused's families and even from those who 'suggested a settlement' did not deter her.
'Before leaving us in the jungle, they told us 'you won't be able to do anything so its better you don't tell anyone about this'. But I told the police everything myself,' she said.
Ms. Reena and Ms. Priya had to drop out from their education after Class 5 as the village only has a primary school. Their mother, Tooti Bai (name changed), said Ms. Priya liked to paint and draw, and pointed to an artwork that the young girl had made on the outer wall of their house with the names of all her sisters.
'Geeta hasn't talked much since that day. She doesn't answer if you ask her anything about it,' Ms. Tooti Bai said.
Sorting the tendu leaves collected from the forest, Ms. Rakhi's father Shyamlal (name changed), however, is troubled by the number of visits.
'Nobody ever came here earlier but now everybody is coming and asking so many questions. I don't know anything. The girls didn't tell me much,' he said.
Bhagatpur, just 3.5 km from Duglai, has electricity, roads, concrete houses, and cattle, tractor and other farm machines outside most of them.
'My husband didn't tell anything at home. We only found out when the police came and took all of them. I haven't seen him ever since,' Lokesh Matre's wife, Janki Matre, 24, who is seven months pregnant, said.
'My father-in-law is ill. I will need to visit hospital often now. Who will take me?' Ms. Janki asked with tearful eyes, alleging the case against her husband was 'fake'.
Kankar Munjare, former MP and a prominent local leader, dubbed the 'hurried' development works at Duglai an 'insult' to the survivors and their families. 'Does someone have to get raped or killed to get these basic things? This is not compensation but an insult to their suffering,' Mr. Munjare said.
Balaghat Collector Mrunal Meena, however, denied the work was only started because of the incident, and said that electrification and road works had already been approved under the Dharti Aaba Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan (DAJGUA) and the Road Connectivity Project for Left Wing Extremism Affected Areas schemes of the Central government, respectively.
'We had identified 200 priority villages for electrification under DAJGUA and the work is being completed in many villages in a row. It is among the most [Naxalism] affected villages but now work is on to connect these places with the mainstream,' Mr. Meena said.