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{{Short description|Indian activist}}
{{for|the 2011 murder in Jodhpur|Bhanwari Devi murder case}}
{{POV|date=May 2015}}
{{EngvarB|date=January 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2014}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Bhanwari Devi
| birth_date = {{birth based on age as of date|43|1995|12|15}}<ref name="IT1">{{cite news|last1=Jungthapa|first1=Vijay|title=Women's group shaken after Jaipur court dismisses Bhanwari Devi rape case and clears accused|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/special-report/story/19951215-womens-group-shaken-after-jaipur-court-dismisses-bhanwari-devi-rape-case-and-clears-accused-808044-1995-12-15|access-date=28 January 2018|work=[[India Today]]|date=15 December 1995}}</ref>
| nationality = Indian
| known_for = Vishaka Judgement
| awards = [[Neerja Bhanot]] Memorial Award for her "extraordinary courage, conviction and commitment"
}}

'''Bhanwari Devi''' (also spelled Bahveri Devi) is an Indian social-worker from Bhateri, [[Rajasthan]], who was [[gang rape]]d in 1992 by men angered by her efforts to prevent a [[child marriage]] in their family. Her subsequent treatment by the police, and court acquittal of the accused, attracted widespread national and international media attention, and became a landmark episode in India's women's rights movement.<ref name=Dalrymple2004>{{cite book|last=Dalrymple|first=William|author-link=William Dalrymple (historian)|title=The Age of Kali: Indian Travels and Encounters|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=psbFzupTAR8C&pg=FA97|year=2004|publisher=Penguin Books India|isbn=978-0-14-303109-3|pages=[https://archive.org/details/ageofkaliindiant00/page/97 97–110]|chapter=The sad tale of Bahveri Devi|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/ageofkaliindiant00/page/97}}</ref><ref name=Mathur1992>{{cite journal|last1=Mathur|first1=Kanchan|title=Bhateri Rape Case: Backlash and Protest|journal=Economic and Political Weekly|date=10 October 1992|volume=27|issue=41|pages=2221–2224|jstor=4398990}}</ref><ref name=Vij2007>{{cite news|last1=Vij|first1=Shivam|title=A Mighty Heart|url=http://archive.tehelka.com/story_main34.asp?filename=hub131007A_MIGHTY.asp|access-date=19 May 2015|work=[[Tehelka]]|date=13 October 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150520070233/http://archive.tehelka.com/story_main34.asp?filename=hub131007A_MIGHTY.asp|archive-date=20 May 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Biography==
Bhanwari Devi belonged to a [[Indian caste system|caste]] ''[[kumhar]]'' (potter) family and lived in Bhateri, a village in the Indian [[States and union territories of India|state]] of [[Rajasthan]], located {{convert|55|km|mi}} from [[Jaipur]], the state's capital. Most people of the village belonged to the [[Gurjar]] community of milkmen, which is higher in the [[Caste system in India|caste hierarchy]] than Bhanwari's. In the 1990s [[child marriage]]s were common in the village, and the caste system was dominant. Bhanwari was married to Mohan Lal Prajapat when she was around five or six years old and her husband eight or nine,<ref name="bbc2017">{{cite web|last1=Pandey|first1=Geeta|title=Bhanwari Devi: The rape that led to India's sexual harassment law|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-39265653|access-date=28 January 2018|work=BBC|date=17 March 2017}}</ref> before coming to live in Bhateri while still in her early teens. They have four children together; two daughters and two sons: the eldest daughter has not been educated; two sons, who live in Jaipur, do menial jobs, while the youngest daughter Rameshwari graduated with [[Bachelor of Education]] degree and teaches English language in a school.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Rashme Sehgal|first1=Rashme|title=Why we must join Bhanwari Devi in her fight for justice|url=http://www.rediff.com/news/special/why-we-must-join-bhanwari-devi-in-her-fight-for-justice/20160219.htm|access-date=28 January 2018|work=Rediff.com|date=19 February 2016}}</ref>

==As a saathin==
In 1985, Bhanwari Devi became a ''saathin'' ("friend"), a grassroots worker employed as part of the Women's Development Project (WDP) run by the Government of Rajasthan. As part of her job, she took up issues related to land, water, literacy, health, [[Public Distribution System]], and payment of minimum wages at famine relief works.<ref name="epw_kanchan">{{cite journal
| jstor = 4398990
| title = Bhateri Rape Case: Backlash and Protest
| author = Kanchan Mathur
| journal = Economic and Political Weekly
| volume = 27
| issue = 41
| date = 10 October 1992
| pages = 2221–2224
}}</ref> In 1987, she took up a major issue of the attempted rape of a woman from a neighbouring village. All of these activities had the full support of the members of her village. However, in 1992, Bhanwari found herself alienated, when she took up the issue of [[child marriage]]<ref name="epw_kanchan"/> which is still widely practiced in India despite being illegal.<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.unicef.org/india/Child_Marriage_handbook.pdf|title = Handbook on the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006|publisher = Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India; UNICEF; HAQ}}</ref>

===Bhanwari's intervention===
In 1992, the state government of Rajasthan decided to launch a campaign against child marriage during the fortnight preceding the festival of [[Akha Teej]], which is considered an auspicious date for marriages. Many child marriages take place during this festival.<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Rajasthan-govt-issues-advisory-against-child-marriage/articleshow/34613271.cms|title = Rajasthan govt issues advisory against child marriage|date = 4 May 2014|access-date = 25 June 2014|website = Times of India}}</ref> WDP members were tasked with convincing local villagers not to conduct child marriages, a task that Bhanwari took up, along with ''prachetas ''and members of the District Women's Development Agency (DWDA). The campaign was largely ignored by the villagers and faced disapproval from local leaders, including the village headman or ''pradhan''.<ref>{{Cite journal|title = Bhateri Rape Case: Backlash and Protest|last = Mathur|first = Kanchan|date = 10 October 1992|journal = Economic and Political Weekly|volume = 27|issue = 41|pages = 2221–2224|jstor = 4398990}}</ref>

One family which had arranged such a marriage was that of Ram Karan Gurjar, who had planned to marry off his nine-month-old daughter.<ref name="bbc2017"/> Bhanwari made attempts to persuade the family against carrying out their wedding plans. Since many Gujar families seemed determined to go ahead with child marriages, the Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO) and the Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) started making rounds of the village. On 5 May, the day of Akha Teej, the Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) and SDO went to Bhateri village to stop the marriage of Ram Karan Gurjar's infant daughter. While they succeeded in preventing the marriage from taking place on the day of Akha Teej, the marriage took place at 2 a.m. the next day. No police action was taken against this. However, the villagers associated the police visits with Bhanwari Devi's efforts. This resulted in social and economic boycott of Bhanwari and her family. The villagers stopped selling milk to the family or buying the earthen pots they made. Bhanwari was forced to leave her job when her employer was roughed up, while her husband was beaten up by another Gujar.<ref name="epw_kanchan" />

===The gang rape===
According to Bhanwari Devi, at dusk on 22 September 1992, while her husband and she were working in their field, five men from the dominant and affluent [[Gurjar]] caste from her village attacked her husband with sticks, leaving him unconscious.<ref name="bbc2017"/> In her complaint with the police she named the five men: brothers Ram Sukh Gujjar, Gyarsa Gujjar and Ram Karan Gujjar, the latter whose daughter's child marriage she attempted to stop, and their uncle Badri Gujjar, along with one Shravan Sharma.<ref>{{cite news |title=Sunil Gurjar |url=https://www.oneindia.com/2011/11/14/cbi-on-lookout-for-bhanwari-devi-cd-distributor.html |access-date=4 December 2018 |publisher=[[Oneindia]] |language=en}}</ref> She claimed that while Ram Sukh held her, Badri and Gyarsa took turns in raping her. She added that the rape occurred shortly after the said incident happened.<ref name="IT1"/>
The accused of [[Gurjar]] caste were arrested and tried in the court, but they were backed by the local MLA, Dhanraj Meena. Meena hired a lawyer called Purohit to defend the accused.

===Police and medical procedures===
Bhanwari reported the incident to Rasila Sharma, the ''pracheta'' (block-level worker), who took her to the Bassi police station to lodge a [[First Information Report]] (FIR). The FIR was lodged after surmounting police scepticism and indifference, a phenomenon several rape complainants have faced in the world. Scholar Savitri Goonesekere notes that all across South Asia, police are reluctant to record rape cases and show callousness and indifference towards women with complaints of rape.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Violence, Law and Women's Rights in South Asia|last = Goonesekere|first = Savitri|publisher = SAGE|year = 2004|isbn = 9780761997962|location = http://www.sagepub.com/books/Book226912/toc|pages = 97–99}}</ref> At the police station, Bhanwari was asked to deposit her "lehanga" (long skirt) as evidence. She had to cover herself with her husband's blood-stained ''saafa'' (turban) and walk 3 km to the nearest saathin's village Kherpuria, at about 1 a.m. in the night.<ref name="politics_taisha" />

This indifference continued at the Primary Health Centre (PHC) in Bassi, where the male doctor refused to medically examine Bhanwari, while no female doctor was present. The PHC doctor referred her to Sawai Man Singh (SMS) Hospital in Jaipur, but wrote in his referral that she was being sent for a test "confirming the age of the victim."<ref name="politics_taisha">{{cite book
| title = Women and the politics of violence
| author = Taisha Abraham
| chapter = The Politics of Patriarchy and Sathin Bhanwari's Rape
| pages = 277–279
| publisher = Har-Anand Publications
| year = 2002
| isbn = 9788124108475
}}</ref>

The Medical Jurist at Jaipur refused to conduct any tests without orders from a Magistrate; the Magistrate refused to give the orders until the next day, as it was past his working hours.<ref name="politics_taisha" /> As a result, the [[Pap test|vaginal swab]] was taken more than 48 hours after the alleged rape, although [[Indian law]] requires this to be done within 24 hours.<ref name="politics_taisha" /><ref name="hindu_pinki">{{cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com/2001/03/04/stories/13040611.htm|title=Long wait for justice|author=Pinki Virani|author-link=Pinki Virani|date=4 March 2001|work=[[The Hindu]]|access-date=7 April 2010}}{{dead link|date=April 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> Her scratches and bruises were not recorded, and her complaints of physical discomfort were ignored.<ref name="bbc2017"/>

==Media coverage==
On 25 September 1992, the [[Rajasthan Patrika]], a major local newspaper, carried a small news item stating that a woman from Bhateri village had registered an FIR in Bassi ''thana'' (police station) alleging gang rape.<ref name="epw_kanchan"/> Following this, a number of local [[Hindi]] dailies as well as national dailies reported the incident. On 2 October, the Rajasthan Patrika carried an editorial article ''Kroor Hadsa'' ("Brutal Incident") condemning the incident. Soon after this, many Jaipur-based women's groups and other social organizations began making inquiries about it. However, Bhanwari Devi was accused of fabricating the entire incident by the alleged rapists and their supporters, and faced public humiliation in her village.<ref name="epw_kanchan"/> Bhanwari Devi refused monetary compensation to discourage such allegations.<ref name="tehelka_shivam">{{cite news
| url = http://www.tehelka.com/story_main34.asp?filename=hub131007A_MIGHTY.asp
| title = A Mighty Heart
| date = 13 October 2007
| author = Shivam Vij
| publisher = Tehelka
| access-date = 7 April 2010
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120527074809/http://www.tehelka.com/story_main34.asp?filename=hub131007A_MIGHTY.asp
| archive-date = 27 May 2012
| url-status = dead
}}</ref>

==The court case==

===Summary of evidence===
The summary of evidence in the court case stated that:<ref name=Kali>[''The Age of Kali'' by [[William Dalrymple (historian)|William Dalrymple]], p.136-38]</ref>
* The semen of five different men were indeed found in Bhanwari's vaginal swab and upon her ''lehenga'' (long skirt)<ref name=Kali />
* There was not even a single match between any of these five semen traces and the semen of any of the five accused (including two who she had accused of raping her and three whom she had accused of pinning her down).<ref name=Kali />
* Bhanwari's husband's semen was not found in the vaginal swab (none of the five semen traces were his).<ref name=Kali />

===District court judgment===
In its verdict on 15 November 1995, the district and sessions court in Jaipur dismissed the case and acquitted all the five accused.<ref name="IT1"/> Five judges were changed, and it was the sixth judge who ruled that the accused were not guilty, stating ''inter alia'' that Bhanwari's husband couldn't have passively watched his wife being gang-raped.<ref name="tehelka_shivam"/>

Under pressure from women's groups, the State Government decided to appeal against the judgment. The judgement led to a nationwide campaign for justice for Bhanwari Devi.<ref name="tehelka_shivam"/> However, by 2007, 15 years after the incident, the Rajasthan High Court held only one hearing on the case and two of the accused were dead.<ref name="tehelka_shivam"/>

===Criticism of the judgment===
Women's activists were critical of some of the judicial remarks made in the case. The judgment stated in passing that Bhanwari's husband couldn't have passively watched his wife being gang-raped. This was taken as prejudice and bias by the women's groups. The accused included an uncle-nephew pair, and the judge said that a middle-aged man from an Indian village could not possibly have participated in a gang rape in the presence of his own nephew.<ref name="tehelka_shivam"/>

==Aftermath==
A state [[Member of the Legislative Assembly (India)|MLA]] belonging to the [[Bharatiya Janata Party]], [[Kanhaiya Lal Meena]], organised a victory rally in the state capital [[Jaipur]] for the five accused who were now declared not guilty, and the women's wing of his political party attended the rally to call Bhanwari a liar.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Basu|first=Amrita|title=Violent Conjectures in Modern India|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2015|isbn=1107089638|pages=270}}</ref><ref name="hindu_pinki"/>

===Social boycott===
Bhanwari and her family were ostracized by villagers in Bhateri and by members of her own caste living elsewhere. When her mother died, her brothers and others did not allow her to participate in the funeral. Following this incident, Bhanwari handed over to them the sum of {{INR}}25,000 which she had received from Prime Minister [[P. V. Narasimha Rao|Narasimha Rao]]. Her brothers spent this money on organizing a [[Kumhar]] caste panchayat, where people were asked to accept her back into the community. In spite of this effort, her acceptance in the community remained nominal and her son Mukesh had a difficult time finding a family willing to give their daughter in marriage to him.<ref name="tehelka_shivam"/>

''[[The New Indian Express]]'' journalist Sukhmani Singh interviewed Bhanwari in 2001 and reported: "Feisty, outspoken, innately hospitable, she openly expressed her resentment against both the women's groups and the government, all of whom have been fiercely guarding her like their pet mannequin all these many years."<ref name="themusic_smriti">{{cite web|url=http://www.themusicmagazine.com/bhawandar.html|title=A film album supervised by Vishwamohan Bhatt|author=Smriti Ananth|date=28 December 2001|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020621034907/http://www.themusicmagazine.com/bhawandar.html |archive-date=21 June 2002|publisher=The Music Magazine|access-date=7 April 2010}}</ref> He reported that she was "weary, resigned and bitter" after all these years. He also reported that Bhanwari wanted to leave Bhateri, but couldn't afford to do so. Her sole source of income was a [[Water Buffalo|buffalo]], as her two [[bigha]]s of land had become unproductive due to three years of drought. Most of the money that she received as part of the [[Neerja Bhanot]] Memorial Award in 1994 was locked away in a trust to aid women.<ref>{{cite news|title=Rape victim enters Bollywood filmscript but stays an outcast|author=Sukhmani Singh|publisher = Indian Express|date=23 November 2001|url=http://www.ambedkar.org/News/News112701.htm|access-date=7 April 2010}}</ref>

===Official honours===
Bhanwari received honours both nationally and internationally. She was invited to be a part of the United Nations [[Fourth World Conference on Women]] in [[Beijing]]. In 1994, she was awarded the [[Neerja Bhanot]] Memorial Award carrying {{INR}}1 [[lakh]] cash prize, for her "extraordinary courage, conviction and commitment".<ref>{{cite web|title=A Defiant Dalit Woman's Fight for Justice|url=http://www.hrsolidarity.net/mainfile.php/1994vol01no01/1935/|publisher=People's Union for Civil Liberties|work=PUCL Bulletin Vol. XIV No. 10|date=October 1994|access-date=7 April 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716082719/http://www.hrsolidarity.net/mainfile.php/1994vol01no01/1935/|archive-date=16 July 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 2002, the then-[[Chief Minister of Rajasthan]], [[Ashok Gehlot]], allotted a residential plot to Bhanwari Devi and announced a grant of {{INR}}40,000 for construction of a house on the plot. He also sanctioned an additional amount {{INR}}10,000 for the education of her son.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.rediff.com/news/2002/jan/10rajas.htm|title=Government extends financial help to Bhanwari Devi|publisher=[[Rediff.com]]|date=10 January 2002|access-date = 7 April 2010}}</ref>

==Impact==
Bhanwari's case shaped the women's movement in India. The Bhanwari case is said by some to have encouraged more rape victims to prosecute their rapists.<ref name="ie_apurva">{{cite news
| url = http://www.indianexpress.com/news/sexualharassmentatworkplace/571636/
| title = Sexual harassment at workplace
| author = Apurva
| date = 26 January 2010
| access-date = 7 April 2010
| publisher = [[Indian Express]]
}}</ref>

By 2007, the average age of the first-time mother in Rajasthan had gone up to 16.5 years. This change was brought about by the efforts of women's groups, catalyzed by the Bhanwari case.<ref name="tehelka_shivam"/>

===The Vishaka judgment===
{{Main|Vishaka Guidelines}}
Women's activists and lawyers have propagated the view that Bhanwari attracted the ire of her rapists solely on the basis of her work. A number of groups which championed the latter view filed a [[Public Interest Litigation]] (PIL) in the [[Supreme Court of India]], under the collective platform of Vishakha.<ref>{{cite web
| url = http://infochangeindia.org/200602095631/Agenda/Claiming-Sexual-Rights-In-India/Sexual-harassment-Battling-unwelcome-sexual-attention.html
| title = Sexual harassment: Battling unwelcome sexual attention
| author = Aurina Chatterji
| date = 9 February 2006
| publisher = InfoChange India
| access-date = 7 April 2010
}}</ref>
The petition, filed by Vishakha and four other women's organizations in Rajasthan against the State of Rajasthan and the Union of India, resulted in what are popularly known as the [[Vishakha Guidelines]]. The judgment of August 1997 provided the basic definitions of [[sexual harassment]] at the workplace and provided guidelines to deal with it. It is seen as a significant legal victory for women's groups in India.<ref name="ie_apurva"/>

==In films==
In 2000, [[Jag Mundhra]] released a film, ''[[Bawandar]],'' based on Bhanwari's story.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/newdelhi/filmmaker-jagmohan-mundhra-dead/article1-741475.aspx | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150524060812/http://www.hindustantimes.com/newdelhi/filmmaker-jagmohan-mundhra-dead/article1-741475.aspx | url-status=dead | archive-date=24 May 2015 | title=Filmmaker Jagmohan Mundhra dead | newspaper=Hindustan Times | author=IANS | date=5 September 2011 | access-date=18 May 2015 }}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Women in India]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{Rape in India}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Devi, Bhanwari}}
[[Category:Rape in India]]
[[Category:Indian women activists]]
[[Category:Crime in Rajasthan]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:Social workers]]
[[Category:Dalit activists]]
[[Category:Women educators from Rajasthan]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian educators]]
[[Category:Educators from Rajasthan]]
[[Category:Social workers from Rajasthan]]
[[Category:20th-century women educators]]

Bhanwari Devi - Revision history

>SdkbBot at 11:15, 4 January 2022