MPH Posted 5 November 2014 Posted 5 November 2014 The man who killed his daughter's rapist The room in which the tenant was killed The case of an Indian man who tortured and killed his daughter's alleged rapist has shocked the country - but many are hailing him as a hero. The BBC's Geeta Pandey met the family. When a 36-year-old Delhi father of six told his wife last Friday that he wanted to spend some time chatting with his tenant in their first-floor bedroom and asked her to sleep with the children on the ground floor, she didn't suspect anything unusual. But what happened that night turned her world upside down. In this tiny 6ft by 8ft room, the father - according to his own account given to the police - tied and gagged the tenant, heated a steel spatula on the stove and burned the man's genitals. The man did not leave the room alive. The father - who cannot be named for legal reasons - voluntarily turned himself in to the police saying he believed his victim deserved such torture. He believed the man had raped his 13-year-old daughter. The young girl told me that a few weeks ago she was alone at home when the tenant "pulled me into his room, tied my hands and raped me". He then threatened to kill her father if she told anyone about it, according to her account. And then, 10 days ago, when she started vomiting, her father took her to a doctor where he found out that she was pregnant. "First he was very angry with me. When I told him it was the tenant, he said he would teach him a lesson," the teenager said. The family lives in Chandu Nagar slum in the Khajuri Khas area of north-east Delhi. It is a maze of narrow lanes where tiny houses sit in each other's shadow. Here, open drains with charcoal grey soupy filth line the roadsides and one has to be careful not to step into the excrement lying about. The father, who made a few hundred rupees daily selling burgers from a handcart, was known to be a mellow family man. Nobody expected this. "I had no inkling about anything. I had no idea that my daughter had been raped and that she was pregnant," says her mother, unable to hold back her tears. The 45-year-old tenant was well-known to the family and had been living in one of the rooms in the house for the past five years. He paid 500 rupees ($8; £5) a month as rent. "We are from neighbouring villages in the central state of Madhya Pradesh. We had known him for a long time and treated him as a member of our family," says the girl's grandfather. "We had no idea he would betray us like this," adds the grandmother. It was 3:45am on Saturday when the father walked into the Khajuri Khas police station to confess to his crime. Rape has been under the spotlight in India since a student was attacked on a Delhi bus in 2012 "He looked very nervous. He said he had made a mistake, he said he had killed someone," said sub-inspector Arun Kumar who first spoke to him. "He said that when confronted, the tenant had taunted him [the father]. This is a case of grave and sudden provocation," the policeman continued. Rape has beenthe police and courts? They ask for all kinds of evidence. In our country, justice takes too long. Justice should be done in two months, but here cases go on for six-seven years." His colleague Noor Mohammad says the father should not be punished at all. "What he did was right. He should be freed." Inspector Arvind Pratap Singh, who is heading the investigation, says he has never encountered a case like this. "We generally have to chase murderers, they don't come to the police station on their own," he says. "I understand that everyone's sympathy is with him, but we're duty bound. He has committed a crime, he will have to face the law." His family, meanwhile, is inconsolable. As we walk up to the first floor, I find the rooms where the father and the tenant lived locked with huge padlocks on the doors. "Police have sealed the rooms and taken the keys," says the mother. I peep into the tenant's room through the cracks in the door and I can see a bed, a stove, some pans on the floor, and some bottles and jars on a shelf. From the window outside the father's room, I can see two little pots with green plastic leaves and a small shelf on the front wall with a statue of the Hindu goddess Durga. As I prepare to leave, his four-year-old son asks, "Where is father? When will he return home?" under the spotlight in India since December 2012 when a 23-year-old student was gang-raped and murdered on a bus in Delhi. Global outrage forced India to introduce tough new laws, including the death penalty for particularly grave crimes, but many are upset that two years later, the attackers of the Delhi student are yet to be punished. They were handed the death penalty, but their appeal is pending in the Supreme Court. Many Indians resent the slow pace of the judicial system where court cases can go on for years. Inspector Arvind Pratap Singh has described the crime as "a unique case" In spite of the new law, the reporting of rape cases in India has gone up hugely - from 24,923 rapes in 2012 to 33,707 last year. It means that every day, 93 rapes were reported. Against this backdrop, the killing in Khajuri Khas has generated sympathy for the father, with many saying they would do the same. After the story was first reported over the weekend, many described him as "a hero" who "did what he had to do". Others expressed the hope that he would escape harsh punishment. It is a sentiment felt on the streets of Khajuri Khas too. "Any father would do that," says Mohammad Ayub who fixes cycle rickshaws less than a kilometre from the scene of the crime. "What's the point of going to the police and courts? They ask for all kinds of evidence. In our country, justice takes too long. Justice should be done in two months, but here cases go on for six-seven years." His colleague Noor Mohammad says the father should not be punished at all. "What he did was right. He should be freed." Inspector Arvind Pratap Singh, who is heading the investigation, says he has never encountered a case like this. "We generally have to chase murderers, they don't come to the police station on their own," he says. "I understand that everyone's sympathy is with him, but we're duty bound. He has committed a crime, he will have to face the law." His family, meanwhile, is inconsolable. As we walk up to the first floor, I find the rooms where the father and the tenant lived locked with huge padlocks on the doors. "Police have sealed the rooms and taken the keys," says the mother. I peep into the tenant's room through the cracks in the door and I can see a bed, a stove, some pans on the floor, and some bottles and jars on a shelf. From the window outside the father's room, I can see two little pots with green plastic leaves and a small shelf on the front wall with a statue of the Hindu goddess Durga. As I prepare to leave, his four-year-old son asks, "Where is father? When will he return home?" http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-29901304
ADK Posted 5 November 2014 Posted 5 November 2014 They ought to be able to prove if he actually raped her. Not really a hero, possibly understandable. Might be a murderer but may also be manslaughter.
Finnegan Posted 5 November 2014 Posted 5 November 2014 Neither, really, I'd be uncomfortable labelling anyone who'd taken a life in anger a hero. But it's tragic and it's awful and most people are going to understand the impulse.
Buce Posted 5 November 2014 Posted 5 November 2014 If it happened to my daughter, I would do the same without conscience.
MPH Posted 5 November 2014 Author Posted 5 November 2014 If it happened to my daughter, I would do the same without conscience. Whilst i wholeheartedly agree with you..... just to play devil's advocate for a minute.... can it be proven that he actually raped her? could his daughter of ' been up to no good' with a boy and looked to get out of the blame?
Buce Posted 5 November 2014 Posted 5 November 2014 Whilst i wholeheartedly agree with you..... just to play devil's advocate for a minute.... can it be proven that he actually raped her? could his daughter of ' been up to no good' with a boy and looked to get out of the blame? She is 13, and living in one of the most sexually repressed nations on Earth, so I would doubt it. Personally, I would believe my own daughter without question; she is 11, and would not have the guile to make up such a thing. She still believes in fairies.
FoxesAreBlue Posted 5 November 2014 Posted 5 November 2014 Murderer, this isn't an eye for an eye is it? That said, if it was my daughter (don't have kids) I'd rip his nuts off first and then put a bullet between his eyes
StanSP Posted 5 November 2014 Posted 5 November 2014 Not necessarily a hero but I don't blame him for doing what he did.
Webbo Posted 5 November 2014 Posted 5 November 2014 What's the difference between this and the death penalty? At least with the death penalty the man gets a trial first.
Buce Posted 5 November 2014 Posted 5 November 2014 What's the difference between this and the death penalty? At least with the death penalty the man gets a trial first. I wouldn't ever lose sleep over the death of a child rapist, legally sanctioned or not. They are the lowest of the low.
DB11 Posted 5 November 2014 Posted 5 November 2014 Well that's a civilised society isn't it... Daughter says something so he doesn't even question it or confront him... Just tortures and kills him, someone who he treated like family so must have had some respect for. I'm glad I don't live in such a depraved society where murder and torture makes a person a hero.
theessexfox Posted 5 November 2014 Posted 5 November 2014 I wouldn't ever lose sleep over the death of a child rapist, legally sanctioned or not. They are the lowest of the low. Not a convicted one though..
bovril Posted 5 November 2014 Posted 5 November 2014 He "believes" the boy raped her so tortured him to death. Jesus.
StanSP Posted 5 November 2014 Posted 5 November 2014 Well that's a civilised society isn't it... Daughter says something so he doesn't even question it or confront him... Just tortures and kills him, someone who he treated like family so must have had some respect for. I'm glad I don't live in such a depraved society where murder and torture makes a person a hero. That's what the media has you believe. To be quite honest, we have no idea what went on before...
Unabomber Posted 5 November 2014 Posted 5 November 2014 Oh man the words heated, steel spatula, and genitals should never be on the same page let alone the same sentence. Brutal.
Buce Posted 5 November 2014 Posted 5 November 2014 He "believes" the boy raped her so tortured him to death. Jesus.He believes his child; what father wouldn't?Oh, and the 'boy' was a 45 year old man.
fuchsntf Posted 5 November 2014 Posted 5 November 2014 That's what the media has you believe. To be quite honest, we have no idea what went on before...Quite true but in 8-9 months DNA or paternity test, or immediate scan would prove the accusation 1 way or tother.PS.. Honour killing, in this country from a female point of view , will take a new and appropiate slant, if victim was guilty.
bovril Posted 5 November 2014 Posted 5 November 2014 He believes his child; what father wouldn't? True. The salient point though is made by essexfox above, he wasn't actually convicted.
Trav Le Bleu Posted 5 November 2014 Posted 5 November 2014 He believes his child; what father wouldn't? Oh, and the 'boy' was a 45 year old man. Children never lie to their parents? That's just naive.
Buzzell Posted 5 November 2014 Posted 5 November 2014 Murderer yes but can't blame him for doing it if the tenant did actually rape his daughter.
Unabomber Posted 5 November 2014 Posted 5 November 2014 I like how he is simply referred to as "the tenant" throughout.
AKCJ Posted 5 November 2014 Posted 5 November 2014 Children never lie to their parents? That's just naive. There's lying and there's lying though Trav.
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