As 15-year-old Fatima breathed her last late on Wednesday night, all those who had known her could not hold back their tears. The young girl was the life of the chaali where she lived. She had suffered enough in life, but the last thing that the residents of the chaali would have imagined was her committing suicide.

Her only grouse was that all the attention and protests happened only when a girl from a high society was raped, her friends said. Fatima was gang-raped by the very people she had trusted. The rape came to light when she complained of stomach pain on June 6 last year.

Grieving relatives of Fatima; (below) Chandbibi, the victim’s neighbour

A visit to the doctor revealed that she was pregnant. She had no choice but to deliver the baby as the pregnancy was at an advanced stage. On September 23, Fatima gave birth to a baby girl. With increasing pressure from society, the family gave away the baby to an orphanage.

Fatima never got to see her child, say her friends. What happened after was emotionally draining for the teenager. She failed to come to terms with what happened to her at such a tender age. “She would weep in front of us and often ended up harming herself. She would bite herself, cut herself and would complain of how much she has been wronged,” said her close friend and cousin Shaheenbanu.

Fatima could not study in school as she had a medical condition. She was a slow learner and used to get fits as a child. Her mother passed away when she was a child and she was raised by her mother’s family. Her father lives in a small village in Uttar Pradesh. According to her uncle Mohammed Sheikh, “She had been living with us since she was two-and-a-half years old.

After this horrendous incident a year ago, she had started behaving in a weird manner. She had banged her head on the wall a few months ago and hurt herself badly.” Three months ago, the family shifted to a rented house in Vatva.

“A few days ago when she saw a woman in our neighbourhood consuming kerosene after a brawl with her husband, she tried to do the same. Luckily, she was saved in the nick of time. But on Tuesday (April 30) she succeeded in taking the extreme step. Her khaala had stepped out of the house when she immolated herself,” Shaikh said.

NEIGHBOURS’ PET

Her neighbours at her old house in Gomtipur remember her as a happy child. Chandbibi, her next door neighbour, said, “Due to her mental condition, she did not go to school. But she was loved by children. She would spend hours with playing with them. After the traumatic incident, she had turned into an reserved girl. We had never imagined that she would take such an extreme step.”

However after the episode, neighbours kept away from visiting her house. Samsunnibanu said, “What would one say after going there? That we are sorry this happened to Fatima? We did not want them to be embarrassed, so we stopped going there.”

Afreenbanu, another cousin visibly upset as she fought back her tears, said, “Just a few days ago, she had come to my place and ate well, Inshallah. She would often skip food for days so it gave me immense pleasure. She danced on that day at my house.” Shaheenbanu, who cannot believe that her cousin is no more, said, “She used to tell us that she wanted the culprits to be hanged to death and nothing less. This is clearly vivid in my memory.”

NGO FIGHTS HER CASE

An NGO, Peace and Equality Cell, has been fighting her case. One of the lawyers, Irfan Munshi, informed that since the DNA test of the accused Ansari did not match, they demanded further investigation in the case under CrPC 173 (8).

Munshi said, “The court has ordered Gomtipur police station for to investigate the matte further. At the sessions court, the case has been committed against Ansari and trial will begin. While, a charge sheet has been filed in the metro court against Shahnawaz.” Shehnaz Saiyed, a member and lawyer of the cell, said, “We lack a system that supports victims.

This girl often came to us for counselling and would tell us to take her to our home. Why was she living in such an environment where she did not feel safe? Isn’t it the responsibility of the state to take care of her after what happened to her? A child with no mother who was raped and became a mother at such a tender age was left to fend for herself.”

DOCTOR SPEAK

Dr Santosh Raibagkar, head of the Burns ward at L G Hospital, said, “We did receive one such case. The girl had apparently poured kerosene or some such flammable liquid on herself which had resulted in 95 per cent burns. In such cases of deep burns, the chances of survival are nil.” As per the hospital records, on April 30 around 3.50 pm she was admitted to the hospital. On May 2, at 1.50am she succumbed to her burns.

WHAT HAPPENED

Right from her birth to her teenage years, Fatima had faced a lot of difficulties. At the age of two and half years, her mother passed away. Just then, she started getting fits and went into depression.

Her father Maqsood Akhtar Pathan remarried, leaving the child with her maternal family. Her khaala (maternal aunty) raised her. She could not go to school due to this condition. At the age of 14, she was raped by none other than her neighbour Rais Jamil Ahmed Ansari (40), who she lovingly called ‘mamu’ on one Sunday in January.

She was left traumatised and terrorised after Ansari threatened to kill her if she spoke about it to anybody else. Not only Ansari, but also his friends Shahnawaz aka Tutur (45) and Mohammad Ali Hashmi (45) took undue advantage of her mental condition and joined him in the brutal act.

Fatima could not voice her distress to anyone, but on June 5, last year, she complained of severe stomach pain and vomitted. Her aunty Aabubanu immediately rushed her to Sanjivani Hospital in Maninagar for a check-up. Gynaecologist Shilpa Gajjar told the family that the child was pregnant with a five-month foetus.

Her aunty was aghast on hearing this. It was only after Fatima revealed the ghastly tale that her aunt came to what had happened. On December 6, an FIR was filed against the culprits at Gomtipur police station under Sections 376, 363, 366 and 506 (1) of the IPC.

Gomtipur PI S K Rathod told Mirror, “We arrested Ansari on the basis of the complaint. When Fatima delivered a baby, we got the child’s DNA test done, but it did not match with Ansari’s. When she was once again taken to forensic science laboratory (FSL) she revealed the names of Shahnawaz and Hashmi. DNA tests were also conducted on them and the child’s DNA matched with that of Shahnawaz.”

Meanwhile, Hashmi is absconding. “We have got CrPC 70 warrant against him. We also went to Uttar Pradesh looking for him but could not catch him,” Rathod said.

Vatva PSI K A Makwana said, “This girl was mentally unstable. She immolated herself at her relative’s place in Vatva. Earlier too she had consumed kerosene and banged her head against the wall and bit herself. A case of rape has been filed at Gomtipur police station. We have filed a case of accidental death.”

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