Update

I thought I’d let you all know what is going on with my police case since I first wrote about the incident last week. I got in touch on Saturday, March 7 with another girl who had been attacked and she asked if I would be willing to join with her and the other women who had been attacked in Bangalore to meet with high ranking police officials to plea for action. I agreed and we set of in the afternoon to what I discovered was a protest outside of a central police station with more than 300 protesters, complete with media coverage and police control. A police official came out and addressed the crowd stating that there would be investigations into the cases and a meeting would be set up in 5 days or less. The media that was there managed to discover that I was also attacked and one after another, they came to interview me and ask what had happened.

The best part of going to the protest is that I was introduced to not only the other victims but also a coalition of lawyers (Alternative Law Forum) that have come together to help the attacked fight back against their attackers and the police who make it nearly impossible to file a complaint. I met with them after the rally and only then discovered that the complaint that had been filed in my case was not the correct one, a NCR was filed in place of a FIR. A NCR is a non-cognizable report, that is a report of a minor crime for which police can neither register a FIR nor can investigate or effect arrest without the express permission or directions from the court. This means that after the report is filed it dies and nothing happens. However, filing an FIR (First incident report) for a more serious crime automatically triggers an investigation. I am sure that the police filed a NCR in my case simply because they are lazy and there is no follow-up for a NCR and they took advantage of the fact that the person who filed on my behalf didn't know the difference between the two. After learning on Saturday that I had not got a FIR filed I made arrangements with one of the lawyers to meet on Sunday at the police station to file the FIR. After three hours at the station on Sunday I finally got the case filed and the police immediately determined the identity and address of the owner of the car that hit me. In case you happen to know him, his name is M. Sreedar and he lives at No 23/1 Velu maudaliyar Street Bangalore. The driver (whether he is the owner of the car we do not yet know) has been charged under the following sections of the IPC (Indian Penal Code): Section 504 of IPC; Insult intended to provoke breach of peace- up to 2 years incarceration and or fine, non-Cognizable and bailable. Section 506 of IPC – Criminal intimidation- up to 2 years incarceration and or fine, non-Cognizable and bailable.

After the FIR was filed the police came with me to the scene of the attack and I showed them what had happened. They asked if anyone that was there had seen the attack and I told them that I was certain that many of the people around there had seen it and I think everyone in the entire neighborhood knows of it and could likely direct them to more witnesses (I had already provided the names and numbers of two witness in my report). Just then a construction woman approached us who had seen the incident (I see her everyday while I feed Ram and Leo and we try to chat sometimes). I told the police that she had seen the entire thing, in fact she was standing less than 15 feet away from me as this thing happened. They spoke with her a bit and she seemed to corroborate my claim but when they asked if she would sign to attest to it, she refused. It's so frustrating, no one seems willing to get involved because they are too worried about themselves. In one of the cases where a woman was attacked she ran to a door to get away from her attacker and when she asked the lady at the door to call the police she flat refused because she didn't want to get involved. The problem with all of this looking the other way is that at some point these imbeciles are going to have to look in the direction that they have been ignoring all this time and I don't think they will like, or even be able to live with, what they see.

As of now the report is filed and I am waiting to see what comes of it but at least now I know I have the support of a team of lawyers as well as the many other victims who have taken the chance to fight back. Let's hope something gets done.