Rape battle ends in marriage
- Former Assam minister weds accuser, names son High Court
MONIDEEPA CHOUDHURI AND SUSHANTA TALUKDAR
Mushahary with son High Court. Picture by SH Patgiri
Guwahati, Aug. 30: Former Assam minister Rajendra Mushahary has
accepted Monila Brahma as his ?wife?, 18 months after the teenaged
girl gave birth to a child and accused him of rape and impregnation.
The former AGP minister solemnised his wedding with Monila before
the marriage officer, Kamrup, under the Special Marriage Act on June
19. Mushahary categorically said: ?I am the father of Monila?s
child.?
The DNA test that Mushahary took to clear his name last year, had
confirmed that he was the father of the child born to Monila on
October 23, 2000, at the Kokrajhar civil hospital.
Mushahary, a widower, finally appeared to be a happy family man. He
said: ?After our marriage, we have renamed our son ?High Court?. All
that happened in the court has finally culminated in myself, Monila
and High Court becoming one happy family.?
Now in his mid-forties, Mushahary was minister of state for the
welfare of plain tribes and backward classes in the Prafulla Kumar
Mahanta government. He was a powerful Asom Gana Parishad functionary
till Monila levelled the rape charge and the party was forced to
suspend him.
Mushahary said he would have to wait for some more time before he
gets a ?clean chit? from the court.
?I appeared in the chief judicial magistrate?s court in Kokrajhar on
Tuesday and since the case will be referred to the sessions court, I
am waiting for its summons,? he said. When the case comes up for
hearing, Monila will ?take back? her charge.
After being released on bail, Mushahary had moved to a nondescript
location where he was tracked down by The Telegraph today. Monila
came to Mushahary?s residence on June 5 and they were married on
June 19.
Maintaining that he was ?done in? by his political adversaries,
Mushahary claimed he had decided to tie the knot with Monila soon
after the 2001 May Assembly elections. ?Unfortunately, my
brothers-in-law jumped the gun in order to derive some benefits by
framing me in a false case,? Mushahary claimed.
Mushahary said he harboured no ill will towards those who engineered
the smear campaign, which resulted in his suspension.
?The All-Bodo Students? Union and the All-Bodo Women?s Welfare
Federation merely acted upon the feedback that they were provided by
Monila?s family. I do not blame them at all. I am happy now and
intend to bring up my son well. I will also make sure that he gets a
good education,? he said.
The case had also drawn the attention of the National Human Rights
Commission that rapped former chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta
for allowing the rape accused to continue as a minister.
When Monila claimed that she was carrying Mushahary?s child as a
sequel to multiple incidents of rape, she was asked to undergo
medical tests. Subsequent confirmation of the supposed victim?s
pregnancy failed to perturb Mushahary, who threw an open challenge
to all and sundry to prove him guilty.
According to the FIR lodged by Monila?s mother, Mushahary raped the
girl on two occasions, once in February 27, 2000 and again a month
later.
The girl?s statement was recorded by a magistrate, a day after her
mother lodged the FIR at the Kokrajhar police station.
The DNA report had said ?Rajendra Mushahary is the biological father
of the disputed child Pabitra (now named High Court).?
The DNA test report was despatched to the forensic science
laboratory here in June last year and forwarded to the Kokrajhar
police, which was handling the case. The DNA profiling was carried
out under chief scientist at the CDFD, G.V. Rao.
Samples for the DNA test were collected on June 7, 2001 from the
alleged rape victim, the child and Mushahary after months of legal
wrangling and claims and counter-claims.
The police had to seek the court?s permission to go in for the DNA
test as the investigation had come to a ?dead end? despite claims by
Gossaigaon police of having gathered ?enough circumstantial
evidence?.
The rape charge is also said to have played a role in Mushahary?s
defeat in the last Assembly elections.
According to the victim?s claims she was raped first on February 27,
2000 and then again in March that year at a hotel in Warisa on the
Assam-Bengal border. However, an FIR was lodged against the minister
at the Gossaigaon police station only on September 4, six months
after the ?crime? was committed.
