Dehradun (Uttarakhand) [India], October 7 : Highlighting claims of alleged sexual exploitation against senior Congress leader Harak Singh Rawat, Assam resident Indira Devi (alias Jenny) has demanded a new DNA test to establish paternity and secure her son’s legal entitlement to his father’s name.
In an exclusive conversation with ANI on Saturday, Jenny alleged that she was taken to Rawat’s residence in Yamuna Colony in 2002 by one of his party workers when she was 16 years old. She claimed that she stayed at his house for around one and a half to two months.
Accusing the Congress leader, she alleged, “This is from back in 2002. In 2002, in Yamuna Colony, I used to work at an STD booth. From that STD booth, one of his party workers took me to Harak Singh Rawat’s house in Yamuna Colony. I stayed there for about one and a half to two months. When I went there, I was only 16 years old. Harak Singh Rawat said, ‘Where to send her… leave her here at my house.’ So I stayed there, in his house.”
She further alleged that she became pregnant and was subsequently placed in a Nari Niketan (women’s shelter) among people with mental health conditions under the pretext of providing her hostel accommodation.
“After I became pregnant, in the name of a hostel, they put me among mentally unstable people in a Nari Niketan. An inquiry can be conducted to verify whether I was kept among mentally unstable people or not, alright?” she said.
Stating her demands, Jenny sought punishment for the alleged sexual assault and recognition of her son’s paternity rights.
“My only demand is that for the rape committed against me, he must be punished. Second, my son must get his father’s name. Whatever the truth is, he hasn’t received it yet. So I want those rights for my son,” she added.
The ‘Jenny episode’ is a decades-old political controversy in Uttarakhand that first surfaced in 2003. Jenny had given birth to a child at a government hospital in Dehradun in June 2003 and had claimed that Rawat was the child’s father.
The then Chief Minister N.D. Tiwari had ordered a CBI inquiry into the matter. A DNA test conducted by the CBI at the time found that the child’s DNA did not match that of Harak Singh Rawat, following which the leader received a clean chit.
Rawat, who served as Revenue Minister in the N.D. Tiwari-led Congress government, is currently a senior Congress leader actively involved in the party’s election campaign.