'All of them pay only lip service'

Kin of five-year-old gang rape victim say netas did not help them eventually

Four months after the December 16 gang rape, the capital was rocked again by the gang rape of a five-year-old child in east Delhi’s Gandhi Nagar area. 

The government played benevolent as usual and promised a slew of measures from financial assistance to better accommodation to job. And like always, forgot to deliver the promises.

Gudiya was reported missing on April 15 evening, and was rescued on April 17 morning from the ground floor of a building in Gandhi Nagar. She was tortured and raped.

Ever since the news of the brutal assault on his child broke out, the girl's father has not been able to live in peace.

Gudiya’s father told Deccan Herald that the family did not receive any help from the city government. 

“We were promised help by politicians, be it of the ruling party or the opposition. But nobody kept their word. The city government didn’t give any financial assistance to us,” says the victim’s father, a gardener. 

What shattered his belief in the system and disappointed him the most was the fact that top authorities simply paid lip service but did not do much to help the family and assuage their pain.

“Politicians, NGOs and other agencies came to see Gudiya at AIIMS till the media was giving importance to the issue. The moment it stopped reporting about the incident, these politicians and NGOs also vanished,” he adds.

Her uncle, who has been with the family since the incident happened, adds, “The ministers only show sympathy in front of the camera and after that they forget everything.” 

“The Delhi State Legal Services Authority gave a demand draft of Rs 1 lakh,” says Gudiya’s uncle.

For somebody like Gudiya’s father who works as a gardener it becomes all the more difficult to take the legal course due to lack of financial resources. This explains why justice remains elusive for some sections of the society.

The girl’s uncle adds that when Congress President Sonia Gandhi visited Gudiya at AIIMS, she promised that the government will help in the child’s education. “When we tried to meet Sonia Gandhi at her home, her PA told us to write a letter. We wrote a letter but we didn’t get any response. We are still awaiting a response,” says the victim’s uncle, a Tilak Nagar resident. “We went to Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit’s office, NCPCR office, Education Minister Kiran Walia, but nobody helped us.”

The family, comprising mother, father, their daughter Gudiya and two and a half years old son, remained in oblivion for over four months. When the December 16 accused were given death sentence, Gudiya’s case was again picked up by the media only to be forgotten again. Her uncle, who repairs cycles to earn a living, says ever since the incident came to light they have been shifting places. 

“Gudiya was first admitted to Swami Dayanand Hospital in Dilshad Garden on April 17. On April 19 she was referred to AIIMS after a surgery. She battled for life at AIIMS after she contracted infection from foreign objects inserted in her body.”

“Then on May10, on the CWC order, she was shifted to YWCA in Connaught Place. In July YWCA people said the girl was fine, so we can take her home. We then moved her to my sister’s place in Uttam Nagar,” her uncle says.

In August, the family took a room in Dwarka thinking Gudiya might get admission in one of the schools there. “But Nirmal Bhartiya School, Dwarka Sector 14 said no to admission before January 2014,” he adds.

At last, the family went to NGO Bachpan Bachao Andolan. “The NGO helped us get my daughter admitted to DPS in Gurgaon. The authorities told us the school will bear Gudiya’s educational expenses till class 12,” says Gudiya’s father.  

“We also shifted to Gurgaon. Now I have taken a room on rent for Rs 4,500. And Rs 3,200 per month is given to us by another NGO Care India,” adds the child’s father, who earns Rs 5,500 working as a gardener at the school.

Gudiya leaves for school at 8 in the morning and comes home at noon. It seems the government has put the incident behind it but the family which has been left scarred is in dire need of help to lead a normal life.

“We appeal to the government and citizens to help us get over the incident and lead a normal life. We need financial support as she is still undergoing treatment,” says the aggrieved father.