AROKIA MARY LUCIA Vs. STATE OF TAMIL NADU

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The above Criminal Original Petition has been filed under Section 4 82 of the Code of Criminal Procedure praying to:

(2.) The petitioner, a practicing Advocate at Gingee in Villupuram District having enrolled in the year 2001, would submit in her affidavit that she is a social worker working among the downtrodden Dalits in particular the Dalit women; that before her enrolment as an Advocate, she served as a nun of Services Congregation under the Roman Catholic Church for more than a decade and during the said period, she qualified herself as a Staff Nurse and was serving as such in the dispensaries run by the Congregation in the slums of Kolkotta and also at the Maria Matern Hospital, Sargani in Sivaganga District; that when she was serving as such, she came across various incidents of atrocities committed against the Dalits, more particularly the Dalit women and in order to assist the Dalits, she left the Congregation for getting more access to the legal system and as illiteracy and poverty were the main reasons for the sufferings of Dalits, she thought it fit to equip herself to help them in their causes and hence did her M.A.( Political Science) and completed the law course in the year 1998 as a result of which she was able to effectively assist the deprived Dalits, whenever they were attacked and atrocities were committed against them.

(3.) The petitioner would further submit that she participated in a number of struggles to espouse the varied causes of Dalits and assisted the victims of Kunduppatti in Kodaikanal (1998), Ogalur of Perambalur District (1999), Chidambaram Poll violence (1999) etc. to get justice to the Dalits by getting the legal and other reliefs; that she is also instrumental in getting the complaints registered by the Police with regard to five cases of rape; that in the year 2001, when one Rita Mary was gang raped in Sub Jail, Gingee by the four wardens, it was she who first got to know the sexual violence committed on the said Rita Mary and assisted her in bringing the culprits to book; that she also approached this Court in Crl.O.P.No.24090 of 2001 seeking CBI enquiry and compensation to the said Rita Mary wherein this Court was pleased to order CBCID enquiry and also ordered Rs.5 lakhs as compensation to her and now the trial in the said case is progressing before the Fast Track Court No.I, Tindivanam and she is cited as P.W.46 in the said case.