Note: The total amount presented
to the girl is as follows:
Fee for
English Learning Course: Rs. 4,800
DD Presented
in Apr 22, 2010 : Rs. 1,35,200
Check sent
later
: Rs.
5,000
Total
:
Rs. 1,45,000
Demand Draft
presentation report on April 22, 2010 at SBI Branch, Bapunagar,
Ahmedabad,
Gujarat, India
Report prepared by
Dr Raghu Rangarajan and Volunteer
(don’t want to be named)
Demand Draft of Rs.1,35,200/-
was handed over to the brave girl on behalf of the donors via the FFEI
at the
State Bank of India (SBI), Bapunagar, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India, on
22/4/2010,
Time-5.00pm to 6.00pm
After the hard work of many
people, we were able to reach the stage where we could give the girl a
small
financial gift to build her future. We would like to give the precise
background of this case. Since her childhood the girl has been
brilliant in her
studies. As she told me in a few professional counseling sessions, her
dream
was to become a doctor but due to her poor financial situation and
suffering
from her ascribed status, she and her family realized that it was not
possible
for her to join medicine. Therefore she
decided to pursue a career in teaching. She joined the Primary Teacher
Course
(PTC) as a meritorious student. This course is run by the District
Institute of
Education and Training, under the Department of Education, Government
of
Gujarat
During the PTC course, she was
repeatedly raped by six of her course teachers. She came forward to
complain
against the culprits and got them punished. Now all six teachers are
sentenced
to life imprisonment. Her family suffered a lot physically, mentally,
socially,
and financially. The girl’s suffering was different than that of the
family, as
she is unmarried and continued her studies in the same institute where
she was
vicitmised. Her village friends, institute mates and her cousins were
also
maintaining a distance from her. Non-governmental Organisations (NGO)
working
in the field of human rights, women rights and for the rights of
untouchables
had started calling her and visiting her house with the objective to
use her in
order to mobilize local, national and international funds in her name.
Amongst
them a few were successful as per her information but then the
financial
support never reached her. After our intervention in this case visits
of most
of the NGOs and other Dalits and Women rights activists have mostly
stopped. As I discovered, the only one
person who
stood beside her and has been still standing with her is her father. I
strongly
believe that without his support this girl could have taken a wrong
step and
she would have ended her life in the very initial stage of this case.
Br. Benjamin Kaila came to
know about this case through an online newspaper in the middle of
November,
2009 and he sent a group email requesting if anyone could come forward
to find
the facts in this case. As I live in Gujarat, I replied to him after a
few
weeks with the baseline and field visit on Saturday, 5/12/2009 and I
also
prepared the fact finding report and submitted it to Br. Benjamin
Kaila. From
here, Brother Kaila worked hard to bring this case to this level.
As Br. Benjamin had given
us a free hand to organize the DD handing over event, we scheduled the
function
for 22/04/2010 at 4.30pm. After much deliberation, we decided not to
allow any
person/people/organization to misuse this event for his/her personal,
political
or organizational gain. We decided to invite people who have given
their life,
time, skills and support for the development of the underprivileged
sections of
society. After few meetings between us, we came to a consensus to call
the
following dignitaries;
1. Shri Anil Kumar Gupta (Assistant General
Manager, State Bank of India)
2. Fr. Paul (St. Xavier's Social Service Society)
3. Smt. Parikshitaben Gurjar (DSP, Gujarat Police)
4. Shri.Rameshchandra Parmar (A Dalit Panther and activist)
5. Shri Ashokbhai Chaudhary (A Tribal Activist
and
Gandhian)
6. Shri Kantilal Siddheswari, visually handicapped
person(Activist for Disability rights)
7. The Girl
8. Shri Victim’s father
9. Smt.Victim’s mother
Among them Smt. Parikshitaben
Gurjar and Shri Ashokbhai Chaudhary were unable to attend
this
occasion.
The event started 30 minutes
late, the function began with volunteer welcoming all the guests and
saying a
few words about our efforts. He then invited Mr. Anil Kumar Gupta
to hand
over the DD of Rs. 1, 35,200/- to the girl and asked him to say a few
words.
Mr. Gupta said her courage
was a lesson to all that they should have the courage to speak up when
victimized/offended and to fight for justice. He also added that one
should not
suppress his/her voice against any form of violence; they should come
forward
to seek help from the judiciary to punish the culprit. He believed that
this
girl would be a role model for others. He also talked about how the State
Bank of India (SBI) helps economically poor students. Every year,
the SBI
branch adopts one girl student to support her education as long as she
continues with her education. He also said, he will discuss this case
with the
SBI administration for future help. Subsequent to the function, in the
manager’s office he also contributed Rs.10,000/- on behalf of
the State
Bank of India. He also guided the girl on why she should not think
about buying
a scooter and also gave his financial rationale behind it.
When volunteer and his
wife went to invite Mr.Anil Kumar Gupta for this event, though he was
busy he
promised to attend the event and also requested us to allow SBI to take
care of
all expenses of the event. He personally called the Branch Manager and
instructed him to organize the event. I also come to know through volunteer’s
wife that on 22/04/2010 he was taking updates/following up on the
progress
of the arrangements since morning via phone. Mr.Gupta’s
commitment did
not end here; he arrived at the SBI branch at 4pm, half an hour before
the
scheduled time of the program. He also instructed his official car
driver to
drop Shri Rameshchandra Parmar and Shri Kantilal Siddheswari at their
respective homes in his car after the completion of the function.
Father Paul:
Fr. Paul said that he had met
this girl a long time back and also offered her a job. He also
appreciated the
role of FFEI and those who are a part of this work. According to him we
were
able to develop a link between this work and the bank.
Dr. Raghu Rangarajan:
Dr. Rangarajan introduced
FFEI and its work in the field. He talked about how FFEI helps poor
students
and said that this is one of its works which has come to its
destination. He
said that FFEI drew its inspiration from Dr. Ambedkar and believed in
his
message that education was essential in the upliftment of the
disadvantaged
sections of society. He said that FFEI
recognized that the girl had performed very well in the PTC course and
wanted
her to complete her Bachelor’s degree and realize her dream of becoming
an
officer.
Dr. Rameshchandra Parmar
(Dalit Panther and writer):
He initiated his speech by
talking about Sayajirao Gaekwad.
According to him, Dr. Ambedkar became a big person because of
the
scholarship given by Gaekwad. Otherwise it would not have been possible
for him
to become what he was. He said that Dr. Ambedkar initially was not a
bright
student, rather he was naughty but later on he realized the importance
of
education. When Dr.Ambedkar was young, he lived near a fish market
which was a
very noisy public market. His father used to make him sleep early until
the
market closed, and from the middle of the night till morning. Dr.
Ambedkar used
to do his academic study work. That was how he studied in his early
life but
the scholarship subsequently played a major role in his life.
Similarly, this
girl should also understand that this is an opportunity for her. He
also
appreciated volunteer and FFEI’s work to help this girl.
Then the volunteer read out the
letter from Benjamin Kaila and translated it into Gujarati. The girl’s
father
was asked if he would like to say anything but he declined. The
girl was
requested to speak and she agreed. She spoke with honesty and
dignity
about the difficult times she had faced and the support she has
received.
One of the SBI officials present told her she was an example to others
and a
source of inspiration to all.
Then the volunteer thanked all
for being present and the function concluded with snacks
and ice-cream provided by the bank. The
function went off very smoothly thanks to the arrangements made by the
bank.
A little later some of those
present went to the bank manager's office to initiate the formalities
of
depositing the DD and creating the FD. At that time Mr. Gupta
announced
an additional contribution from SBI of Rs. 10,000/. The FD to be
created will
now be for Rs. 1, 10,000 for 5 years with interest paid quarterly
(approximately Rs. 1800 per quarter). (The FD was ready by
Saturday.)
The remaining Rs. 35,200 will be in her savings bank account. She
was
also told about the additional Rs. 5000 that is expected. The
girl
expressed an interest in using the money to buy a scooter to help her
get to
the school where she has now got a job as a teacher's assistant at a
salary of
Rs. 2500 a month. She was advised to wait until she was
comfortable at
her job (she has been teaching since last Tuesday) and possibly till
the
beginning of the new academic year.
After this, the girl and her family, Raghu and volunteer went to the
volunteer’s home. The girl's father was very grateful and thanked FFEI
for its
contribution. He has invited Raghu and volunteer to his home. A
scanned
copy of the FD will be sent to Br. Benjamin and Mr. Rao for FFEI
records.
Report prepared by
Raghu Rangarajan &
Volunteer
(‘I’ refers to volunteer)
Addendum:
On April 26, 2010 the FD was
handed over to the girl at the SBI Bapunagar Branch at approximately
1:15 pm in
the presence of Raghu and the volunteer.
She had come along with her father to the volunteer’s home and
the four
of us drove to SBI. Later the girl and
her father were dropped off at the nearby State Transport bus stop so
that they
could take the bus back.