[Reader-list] This wasn't one page one cos she wasn't a south Delhi model

[Shivam Vij]

New Delhi, Sep 15 (IANS) A six-year-old Dalit girl from Uttar Pradesh
continues to battle for life nearly a year after she was brutally
raped, resulting in her uterus getting damaged.

On Oct 4 last year, the victim was kidnapped while she was sleeping in
her home in a village in Hamirpur district. A man from a dominant
caste assaulted her near a temple.

She was later found in a pool of blood. Her medical examination
revealed that her genitals and uterus were severely damaged.

Although she was operated upon immediately, doctors at a district
hospital had advised more operations over the next few months, to be
followed by plastic surgery.

The victim's parents, however, do not have the necessary funds and the
girl continues to suffer from physical pain and mental trauma.

"She belongs to a very poor Dalit family. Her father is a landless
labourer. Her family has spent more than Rs.50,000 which they had
raised by taking loans from a village moneylender," said Santosh Kumar
Samal, executive director of the Dalit Foundation that is trying to
raise funds for the girl's rehabilitation.

While the family received a paltry sum of Rs.25,000 as compensation
from the district administration, the amount was spent in repaying the
debt taken for her treatment.

"Apart from the financial burden, the family is also suffering from
social ostracising. No one in the village is willing to help them out
except a few Dalit activists," Samal told IANS here.

"Now the doctors have advised her to undergo two more operations as
soon as possible. The surgery will cost her family more than
Rs.30,000. The expenditure on her medical treatment is estimated to be
around Rs.100,000," he said.

Samal said the Dalit Foundation was trying to raise sufficient funds
and get all that is required to take care of not only the medical
treatment but for her complete rehabilitation.

"The child is not able to go to school or lead a normal life because
of her present condition," he added.

--By Arun Anand