Katigorah: 12-year-old Who Went to Toilet Outside home Allegedly Raped in Paddy Field

Open defecation-related rape cases in India have been quite higher in the previous decade. Efforts from the governments have significantly brought down the number of open defecation by building more toilets which in turn brought down related rape cases. A startling case of defecation-related rape has surfaced from the Katigorah constituency of Cachar district. A 12-year-old girl who went to the “Kutcha Toilet” outside her home was allegedly abducted and raped.

This incident happened on September 29, Sunday, in the Dudpur area under the Katigorah Police Station. When the 12-year-old girl went to the toilet outside her home, she was forcefully abducted by a local. The abductor took the minor to a paddy field by forcefully covering her face to deter her from screaming and allegedly raped her there.

When the mother of this 12-year-old saw her daughter gone for longer than usual, suspicion grew and she started screaming her name to find her. After much calling, when there was no response and she was not even found in the toilet area, her family members began searching for her frantically.

A group of people rushed to the paddy field where she was being raped. Hearing their scream the alleged rapist Islam Uddin Mazumder from Ganirgram, Katigorah, fled the scene, leaving the girl in a devastated state.

There the family members were not sure what had happened to her, as they didn’t see the rapist escape in the darkness. When she was rescued back home, her mother asked what had happened, but the girl was too traumatised to speak. After much coaxing, she finally revealed the horrific ordeal she had endured.

This morning, her mother filed an FIR at Katigorah Police Station, demanding the harshest punishment for the rapist.

It needs to be mentioned here that even though the government had launched several initiatives to end open defecation and build pucca toilers in rural areas, the acceptance rate has been low and in some villages, the schemes have never reached. The 12-year-old victim had their toilet a little far from their home as toilets attached to homes are still considered taboo in rural parts of our valley.