To show their support for the five social workers concerned and to protest against the laws dealing with sex abuse, a group of 22 organisations had a meeting in the Capital on Friday. According to Renuka Mishra of the NGO, Niranter, the police have failed to produce the report as demanded by the Chief Judicial Magistrate and as a result the ``The sword of Damocles continues to hang over their heads.''

Jagdish Pandey, the accused, has filed cases of kidnapping, abduction and theft of his wife and two daughters against the social workers. He and his brothers have also allegedly been threatening the activists for giving shelter to his wife and daughters. The activists fear the harassment will increase as he is out on bail.

The NGOs, meanwhile,have decided to hit out against the laws. ``The rape laws are quite narrow as they are defined only by penetration, which gives offenders considerable amount of leeway,'' said Mishra. ``In most cases, the offender is an uncle or a cousin. Here, it is the father, so one can imagine the degree of courage that would have been required to make a complaint,'' said Mishra. ``The investigating officer has taken her statement twice. Once when she was expected to speak in front of her father - she just broke down''.

The victim's mother, Ila Pandey, has had a long history of being battered by her husband. It was only in February that the child told her mother that the father was indulging in ``dirty acts'' with her. Ila's and an NGO's attempts to question her husband were in vain as all that happened was that Pandey increased his assault on the wife. Finally, Ila left with her younger daughter but the father kept the two older daughters citing their school exams as an excuse.

When Pandey refused to return the twodaughters, Ila went back and got them while he was away and then appeared before the sub-divisional magistrate of Karvi. Meanwhile, her husband started his intimidation of the social workers. The social workers allege the police refused to register an FIR based on their complaint and Pandey has continued with his threats. But, a case has been registered against him over a complaint lodged in Varanasi.