22-year-old tribal farmworker raped by landowner in Kutch

The Ahmedabad police on Tuesday registered a zero FIR on the complaint of a tribal woman, working as a farm labourer, about allegedly being raped by the farm owner last month in Gujarat's Kutch district.

It was only after she was counselled by activists that she mustered her courage to report her case. After registering the FIR, the police transferred the case to the concerned police station in Kutch for investigation.

The victim, a 22-year-old resident of Dahod district, came forward to lodge the complaint with the help of the activists who counselled her and took her to the police station. The FIR states that the victim, belonging to the Bhil tribe, was working as a farm labourer along with her husband in Anjar taluka of Kutch district. The farm owner, identified as Ranchhod Ahir, allegedly raped her on the evening of September 16 when she was alone in the farm where she also lived, the report adds.

The FIR says that the victim left the farm with her husband who reportedly had to sell his phone to arrange for bus tickets to return home. Days later, the victim informed Man Singh, President of the Dahod unit of the Majur Adhikar Manch, a union of migrant workers. She was then taken to Ahmedabad where she was counselled and the legal team of the union led by Ashok Samrat and Ramesh Srivastava approached the Sabarmati Police station where, after several representations, the zero FIR was registered on Tuesday.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Zone-2, Vijay Patel confirmed that the FIR was registered and was sent to the concerned police station in Kutch district.

A release by the Majur Adhikar Manch's secretary Mina Jadav stated that "reports of such abuse of tribal migrant agriculture workers by farm owners are common" as thousands of tribal workers migrate to work as wage sharecroppers in agricultural farms of Saurashtra and the north Gujarat region. They migrate with their families and mostly stay on the farm during the entire crop season. It says that away from home and with hardly any local support, such workers are "highly vulnerable."

The release claims that "reports of sexual abuse at workplace are very common. The workers allege that sexual harassment is even used as a means to deprive the workers of their hard-earned wages."