July 29, 2009 was just another day for Gopal as he began to grind away in his job in the kitchen of a Ghatkopar hotel, invariably thinking about his two daughters and wife back at their rented home.
For Gopal Shetye, fate seems to have decided the course of life for him.
Shetye, who is sitting on a hunger strike at Azad Maidan, is allegedly a victim of a botched up rape case of the Kurla Government Railway police (GRP). After being behind bars for seven years — the sentence he served for a crime that he had not committed — the forlorn man waits for a chance to meet chief minister Devendra Fadnavis to present his case.
July 29, 2009 was just another day for Gopal as he began to grind away in his job in the kitchen of a Ghatkopar hotel, invariably thinking about his two daughters and wife back at their rented home. But his dreams of a peaceful life with his family were shattered when a few policemen in plain clothes came and picked him up. "I was kept in Kurla GRP custody for three days. In spite of my repeated request, they did not tell me the reason for my detention," said Shetye.
But the skies came crashing down when the police eventually told him that he was arrested for raping a 28-year-old woman from Aurangabad, who was sleeping on the railway bridge of Ghatkopar station on July 19. "I was shocked and told them that they have made a mistake, but all my pleas fell on deaf ears," added Shetye.
Shetye felt beleaguered. He came to know that he was in the net because the woman had told the police that she was violated by a man named Gopi. "And I was arrested because my name is Gopal," cried out Shetye, a question mark clearly visible in his look.
Soon, the police submitted a charge sheet against Shetye in the Sewree court. In a matter of ten months, he was convicted and sentenced to seven years' imprisonment.
Meanwhile, destiny shaped the lives of Shetey's family in a different way. Once Shetye was sent to Nashik central jail, his father died due to poor health and his old mother was forced to go back to their native place. His wife, struggling to make the two ends meet, married again. "And my daughters were put up in an orphanage!" Shetye broke down.
After serving his full term, Shetye was released from jail in March 2015.
Since the time he was convicted, Shetye had appealed in the Bombay high court challenging the lower court order. Finally, on June 10, 2015, the high court gave the decision in his favour and acquitted him on all counts.
According to Shetye, the high court found several loopholes in the investigation done by Kurla GRP. "But will I ever get back my seven years? Will I get my family back? I have suffered all this while because some policemen decided to frame me in the case. I want justice now; I want them to be punished as well," said Shetye with conviction.
"Everything has changed for me. I am a rapist for the world. That is my new identity, but I am not ready to live with it," said Shetye.
Shetye's tearful reunion with his daughters at the orphanage was short. "I am out on the road but I want my daughters out of the orphanage. I want to give them a better life. I want to meet the CM for justice," said a firm Shetye, waiting for his life to come a full circle.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}