Raped at 17, woman records statement in court after 28 years

Twenty-eight years after she was allegedly gang-raped, a middle-aged woman has recorded her statement in a court in Bandipora district of Jammu and Kashmir.
She was 17 when four men allegedly abducted her from home in Nadihal area of Bandipora district on June 3, 1987, according to the complaint.
She was then taken and confined to a hotel in Srinagar where she was allegedly repeatedly raped by the accused for 12 days.
"We got the victim to record her statement in the court of Principal District and Sessions Judge Bandipora on October 6. The rape case had been filed in 1987," Public Prosecutor Shafeeq Ahmad Bhat told PTI.

Bhat, who took over as public prosecutor earlier this year, said that he has been making a concerted effort to expedite old cases pending before the court in Bandipora.
The victim's statement could not be recorded before the court for nearly three decades as the prime accused in the case, a local of Bandipora, was absconding.

While two of the accused have died during the course of the trial, the third accused is in custody.
Bhat said the victim stood by her statement made 28 years ago.
"On the last date of hearing (October 6), we moved an application before the court seeking attachment of the property of the accused.

"The court has directed the main accused, through a public notice published in local newspapers, to present himself before the court by or before November 5," Bhat said.
As per the notice, the court will attach the property of the accused if he failed to present himself for the proceedings on November 5.