It seems the last word in the Tiss rape case is still to come. Dr S Parshuraman, director, Tiss on Thursday said, “The institute is in touch with the prosecution and is exploring all possible ways of ensuring that there is an appeal against the acquittal.” He pointed out that since the state was the prosecuting authority the institute was merely helping the state team.
“We have appointed three lawyers who are working closely with the prosecution and we want to ensure that our student gets justice,” he said. “There are many holes in the way the investigations were done and the way the medical examination was conducted. We will ensure that these points are raised in the appeal.”
He said that the institute was in constant touch with the student and her mother. “We have been keeping them in the loop about the developments in the case,” Dr Parshuraman said. According to him a copy of the judgment is awaited. “Only then will we be able to logically move ahead.”
At the campus, where rules don’t allow them to interact with the media, students were shocked and angry. “How can they be allowed to walk (away) like this?” asked a student who added, “This will only embolden them and what about the message this sends to society? After all this case had come to symbolise every rape victim’s fight for justice.”
Another doctoral scholar who has been following the case said, “Earlier party photographs were circulated to the media by Vinamra Soni, one of the suspects,” he reminded.
The photographs, it maybe recalled– taken on the night of April 11 when the alleged rape took place in Andheri – were distributed by Soni when he surrendered to the court on April 20, in a bid to bolster his case. “Then the police had said that Soni’s torn shirt bore out the victim’s statement and strengthened her case. If that was the case then why was the investigation so shoddy that they could go scot-free?” he said.
The students and faculty insist that there seemed to be a malicious attempt at character assassination of the victim right from the beginning. “Some sections of the media too crossed all limits in the way they covered the case with sensational titillating language. Today they should hang their heads in shame,” said a faculty known to be a champion of women’s rights issues.
Student and the faculty supported the initiative to appeal against the acquittals. “If this isn’t a fit case, we don’t know which one is,” said a media studies student.
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