அப்பெண்ணின் பிரேத பரிசோதனை அறிக்கை குறித்து அதிகாரிகள் கூறும்போது, "மிகக் கூர்மையான ஆயுதத்தால் அப் பெண்ணின் கருப்பையும், குடலும் சிதைக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது. பெண்ணின் நெஞ்சுப் பகுதியில் 13 செ.மீ. ஆழத்துக்கு காயம் ஏற்படுத்தப்பட்டுள்ளது.
பெண்ணின் கல்லீரலும் சிதைக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது. இதுதவிர துணியால் பெண்ணின் வாய், மூக்கு பகுதியை பொத்தி மூச்சுத் திணறல் ஏற்படுத்தப்பட்டுள்ளது. உடல் முழுவதும் 30 இடங்களில் படுகாயங்கள் ஏற்படுத்தப்பட்டுள்ளன" என்றார்.tamilthehindu.com
There
are several reporters in Ward No. 5 at the Kuruppampady Taluk Hospital,
where Rajeshwari has been admitted since her daughter Jisha was
sexually assaulted and brutally killed last Thursday in her house. To
all of them, Rajeshwari speaks as if her daughter were still alive.
“Since
the day my child was born, we shared meals together. How can I eat when
my child is probably starving somewhere? Can anybody tell me whether
she has eaten?” As Rajeshwari breaks into tears, her elder daughter and
Jisha’s sister, Deepa, tries to pacify her mother.
The
story of Jisha’s family is one of a family and its individual members
struggling to make a living, surrounded by neighbours with whom there
was mutual fear and hostility. Jisha, was an Ezhava, a politically
influential caste classified as a Backward Caste in Kerala, but
considered untouchable in the caste hierarchy.
After
being forced to discontinue her BA degree within a year of beginning
the course, when Jisha enrolled for an LLB in Ernakulam Government Law
College in 2012, it was with a sense of purpose. “She wants to fight for
people like us, poor people, those who have been discriminated
against,” Rajeshwari says.
Always
poor, Rajeshwari struggled to raise her daughters and took up several
odd jobs to feed her family, including working in a flour mill. “I’ve
even approached churches and mosques to ask for money,” she says,
completely distraught.
Harassment
The manner in which Rajeswari and Deepa describe their neighbours
suggests mutual hostility, and possibly even caste tensions and
discrimination.
Rajeshwari
and Jisha lived in a small house in Kuruppampady village. Her elder
daughter Deepa began to live with her husband’s family after she got
married in 2004. “After that, my mother started growing restless, as
Jisha had to stay home all day alone,” Deepa says.
The
house in which they lived was allotted to Jisha’s father’s family
during Indira Gandhi’s tenure as prime minister. Rajeshwari continued to
live in the house even though her husband left them several years ago.
“Since
the day we moved into that house 40 years ago, not one day has passed
without the neighbours troubling us,” Deepa says, staring into space.
Rajeshwari
says that the neighbours destroyed their water pipes, forcing them to
draw water from a canal next to the house. She says they were not
allowed to draw water from anywhere else. “In 40 years of living there,
not once have we been to a neighbour’s house,” Deepa adds.
Deepa
says that Rajeshwari always feared for her daughters as she felt that
the absence of a man made them vulnerable somehow. Lying in bed at the
hospital, Rajeshwari says: “My child is very calm… she is in danger.”
Rajeshwari says that they have been harassed by unknown people many
times in the past – people throwing stones at their tiny house and even
street harassment of Deepa and Jisha. On several occasions, Rajeshwari
alleges, men from the neighbourhood made sexual advances at Jisha. Both
she and Deepa allege that the police did nothing despite repeated
complaints.
Even on Wednesday night,
she and Jisha were watching a film when they heard noise outside the
house. When they went to check, they found nothing except for a lamp,
which Rajeshwari had kept.
Neighbours
“Jisha
was a calm girl, nobody had issues with her. It was her mother that we
neighbours avoided, because she showered abuses on anyone who tried to
talk to her, let alone look at them,” their neighbour and autorickshaw
driver Shashi says.
When
Rajeshwari desperately tried to open the door of her house on the night
of the murder, no one went to her aid. She had banged on the door,
crying, asking for Jisha to open the door.
Recalling
the events of that night, Shashi says: “The neighbours were wary of
getting involved, as the family kept aloof from others.” He says that
none of the neighbours had known that she was a law student until the
media reported it.
Gram
panchayat member Shiji says she came to the spot after one of the
neighbours called her and told her what was happening. “She kept banging
on the door asking for help. She has a reputation for hurling abuses,
no one wanted to get involved. One of the neighbours called the police.”
Shiji
emphasizes that she did everything possible to help Jisha’s family
except for receiving the body after the post mortem. The panchayat
looked after the expenses, villagers say.
The
house that Jisha was murdered in is a 10-minute walk from the
Eravichira temple in the village. It has become a museum of sorts. The
few police personnel posted outside do not prohibit anyone from entering
it, prompting criticism that crucial evidence may have been lost.
It
is unclear whether Rajeshwari will go back to the house once she is
discharged. She could stay with her daughter or her brother. She may,
eventually have another house. Back in the hospital, Rajeshwari had said
that the family was allotted a site of five cents which is registered
in Jisha’s name. The foundation stone for the new house has been laid.
Towards the end of the interview, as reporters left, Rajeshwari cried
out: “Please, find her killer.”
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