Guwahati, Nov 11 Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday extended his support to a woman who has renewed her allegations of sexual assault against former Uttarakhand minister Harak Singh Rawat after 23 years, and sought a fresh DNA test to establish the paternity of her son.
The woman, who hails from Sadiya in Assam’s Tinsukia district, met Sarma on Tuesday, following which the chief minister said he stood firmly with her in her fight for justice.
“What a man named Harak Singh Rawat from Uttarakhand did to her is extremely wrong and reprehensible. No one should have to suffer the kind of cruelty she endured. I stand firmly with her in this fight for justice,” Sarma said in a social media post.
Speaking to reporters here on Wednesday, the woman said she had already submitted a complaint to the Uttarakhand DGP and would lodge a zero FIR in Guwahati, as travelling regularly to the northern state for legal proceedings would not be feasible for her.
A zero FIR can be registered at any police station in the country, irrespective of where the alleged offence took place or which police station has territorial jurisdiction.
The woman demanded that the case be reopened and a fresh DNA test conducted to establish whether Rawat was the biological father of her 23-year-old son.
She said Sarma had assured her of support in her fight for justice.
The woman alleged that in 2002, when she was 16, some people took her to Rawat’s residence in Dehradun on the pretext of providing her a job, where the former minister sexually assaulted her. She subsequently gave birth to a child.
She had then alleged that Rawat, who was Uttarakhand’s revenue minister at the time, was the father of the child and was subsequently sent to a state-run Nari Niketan.
The allegations had triggered a political controversy, forcing Rawat to resign from his ministerial post. The investigation was subsequently handed over to the CBI.
A DNA test was conducted during the investigation but reportedly did not match Rawat, following which he was given a clean chit.
The woman later retracted her allegations, stating that Rawat was innocent, had not raped her and was not the father of her child.
She claimed on Wednesday that she had been forced to sign several documents while staying at the Nari Niketan, where she was housed alongside mentally ill people.
“I was forced to sign several documents, and I wanted to leave the Nari Niketan where I was kept with mentally ill people,” she said, adding that she had faced pressure and wanted to return to Assam for the safety of herself and her son.
“I want the case to be reopened and another DNA test be conducted so that my son’s paternal identity is ascertained,” she said.
Rawat has denied the renewed allegations, describing them as a “politically motivated nefarious act” by the BJP ahead of the upcoming assembly elections. He also threatened to file defamation suits.
The woman, however, maintained that her demand was not politically motivated and that she was seeking legal recognition of her son’s paternity and justice for him.
“I want justice for my son as he deserves to know who his father is,” she said.
(PTI News)
