RAJESH SINHA ALWAOct,3: As Rajasthan agonises over two recent rape cases, attempts may be on to give another similar case a quiet burial. The Alwar sexual exploitation racket, or the Shalini Sharma case as it came to be known, had made headlines when it was first exposed for allegations of involvement of the rich and the powerful. However, as the case trudges on in court, proceedings show the battle is heavily loaded against the victim.

Even Rajasthan Governor Bali Ram Bhagat in a report alleging breakdown of law and order in the State had mentioned the case along with others.

Shalini Sharma, the then deputy chairman of the State Social Welfare Board and a BJP functionary, and her husband Rajesh Sharma had been accused by a teacher employed in her school of sexual exploitation in June last year. The teacher had charged that she and a few other girls had been drugged and raped, and photographs of them in compromising positions were being used by the couple to exploit them.

Names of IAS officers and politicians, including some ministers, had figured among the people Shalini had allegedly ``obliged''.

Since the case was lodged, however, the victim and her family claim to have been thwarted at every stage by the authorities. Women activists list a series of these ``lapses'':

First, after the case was registered, the police waited for a fortnight before making any effort to catch the Sharmas. By then, both had fled. Not only that, the couple managed to elude the police till November 30 before they finally surrendered after their bail lapsed. All this time, they had been trying for anticipatory bail in various courts. They are now in judicial custody.

Second, till now, Shalini's servant who the victim had said had been aware of the racket is yet to be found. The police even failed to recover the photographs that had been used to blackmail the girls.

The accused, however, have faced no such problems. A proof of this was an application filed by Shalini on August 26 this year before the Special Court requesting that she be showed copies of statements of people interrogated by the Investigating Officer in the case.

The application mentions the specific dates on which the statements were recorded. According to victim's lawyer Ashok Sharma, this is surprising as an IO's case diary is a confidential item which only the court has access to, and there is no way Shalini should have had that kind of information. He calls it ``a serious lapse on the part of the prosecution''.

However, Additional Public Prosecutor Baljit Singh Yadav says details in Shalini's application were based on ``unreliable information'' and were ``irrelevant''.

The people whose statements Shalini asked for include Transport Minister Rohitashwa Sharma and the Alwar Collector at the time, Manohar Kant. The application is to come up for hearing on October 17.

Another matter that will be heard that day is the victim's plea for original documents in the case. Her statement would follow decisions on these applications.

Meanwhile, pressure is reportedly on to get the victim to change her statement. A group of local BJP leaders is allegedly also persuading her family and her to reach a compromise and withdraw the case. Recently, the victim's father received an order transferring him from Alwar to Bharatpur.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.