Nandu Lohar

                                                                     
             Deaf and Mute Rape victim in 2002 case in Minta,Rajasthan

Nandu was deaf and mute since birth. When she was taking her cattles to the farm one of the man from her village caught her in a deserted alley and raped her thinking ..that a deaf mute girls will not even be able to tell anybody that she was raped. But Nandu cmae back home and told her mom everything. She had never gone to school so could not write and tell but her mom understood her signs and actions pretty well to realize what has happened with her poor daughter. She immediately went to police station and reported the incident. But seeing that no action is being taken against that ..she came to Taraji for justice. Taraji made sure that an FIR is filed and the case is taken to court.

Now since Nandu was deaf and mute ..this case posed a lot of new challenges for Taraji. To start with the judge asked how Nandu will take her oath  in court? This was a very silly and upsetting question . If a women can not speak then does that disqualify her from getting her constitutional rights and justice? Finally based on such arguments the case moved on. The next challenge posed by the judge was how to believe and understand what nandu was saying? Even when Nandu’s medical report, circumstantial evidence( her broken bangles, torn blouse and undergarments) e.t.c were clearly proving what happened to her. The Judge wanted a “deaf and dumb” school trainer to report Nandu’s sign in their way. Only that report will get credit in court. Taraji was determined to get Nandu justice. One such teacher(trainer) was hired from Ajmer and for 4 days we worked together to some to a stage where he could show in court-approved sign language about what Nandu was trying to say. After that Judge was convinced that Nandu was a rape victim and the criminal was sentences 14 years of imprisonment. This was the first case in the history of Rajasthan that a dumb and mute girl got justice like this. Media called it “finally court listened to the mute’s heart wrenching story”

Nandu is really an inspiration really deserves this award. Her courage and persistence to get justice is commendable. It took 2 years for her to see her criminal behind the bars and there was so much poverty in the family that everytime she had to borrow money from neighbors to get to court in Bhilwara ..but she never gave up. Her sefl esteem is higher than the sky and we salute her.