I lost everything, says man wrongly convicted of rape

After a mentally unstable girl was raped in 2009 on the premises of Ghatkopar railway station, it appeared she got justice when the trial court convicted the accused. However, six years later, it turned out that the delivery of justice had failed both the victim and the accused, Gopal Shete.

Shete, 43 now, was acquitted of all charges, including raping the girl who had come from Aurangabad and slept on the railway premises. She had said he was at home at the time the crime took place. In the lock-up, the police beat him into confessing to a crime he said he did not commit.

"They wanted to crack the case due to media pressure. They ended up picking me, a case of mistaken identity. My name is Gopal and they were looking for Gopi. After the rape, the real culprit dropped the girl to the hospital," said Shete.

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Shete, then 33, spent nearly six years in jail after the trial court convicted him. "By the time I was released, I had already served the term. In all this time, I lost everything," said Shete.

"My father died after my conviction. My mother got mentally disturbed and moved to our village. My two daughters are in an orphanage. I asked my wife to carry on with her life and she married someone else," said Shete, who was deemed innocent by the high court on June 10, 2015.

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When in jail, Shete gathered his case details under the RTI. "They had not collected all the details and got me convicted in a fast-track court. I even got my medical tests done to prove my innocence, which the police did not take," he said.

"We have now filed a case for compensation and rehabilitation for the trauma he underwent," said advocate Rajeshwar Panchal, who helped Shete get a job. "I have slapped defamation case and compensation cases of Rs 200 crore and Rs 500 crore respectively. One of them was rejected and I have appealed. I know I will not get much but it seems to be the only way to highlight the issue. Will I get my family back?" said Shete when asked about the astronomical claim amounts.

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