03 October,2009 06:54 AM IST | | Ketan Ranga
Just a 1,000 people live in the Jadhavs' village in Roha taluka. It's a close-knit society, everyone knows everyone. Especially the Jadhavs (name changed.)
After all, actor Shiney Ahuja allegedly raped their daughter on June 14. The family was extremely reluctant to speak to the paper.
The father, says he is frightened, as the girl's alleged rapist Shiney Ahuja is out on bail today. "We will be targeted, we are poor, simple people.
He is rich," he mumbled. They usher us inside their pucca house, a small room with a kitchen and a storeroom.
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The girl's mother and the three daughters and a son look on as we speak. The victim is in hiding in an undisclosed location.
The family is obviously dirt poor. The father said he made a maximum of Rs 2,500 per month working the fields for the landowner.
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"My daughter was promised around Rs 3,000 by the Ahujas. She had been sent to earn for the family and then save some for her marriage. We have a debt burden of Rs 70,000.
Where is the money for her marriage and then her sisters' marriage? Of course, it doesn't matter now. My daughter will never be able to get married," he says.
A local neta Harischandra Vajantri added, "The girl who was raped was the brightest. The family always kept to themselves, but after the rape, they hardly ever come out of the house. They have gone into virtual hiding."
The Loopholes
>>u00a0Shiney's lawyers said that while the victim claimed that she was raped between 3 pm and 5 pm in the actor's Andheri house on June 14, cell phone records reveal that she was on her cell phone between 3.15 pm and 3.45 pm.
His lawyers further pointed out that the victim did not use the word 'rape' in her statement on oath before the magistrate, but the word 'atyachar' instead.
>> The judge expressed his surprise that neither the victim's nor Shiney's clothes had semen or blood stains.
>> The judge said he found it odd that the police did not record the statements of Shiney's neighbours.
