“I could hear her scream while they (parents) beat her up and called me to make me hear all that,” a distraught Siddharth Bansal told NC24x7. Bansal, 25 is a Delhi-based lawyer. He claims that he is in a romantic relationship with Khagaria District and Sessions Judge Subhash Chandra Chaurasia’s daughter Yashaswini, 24. The two met at Saket Court Complex in June 2012, while she was interning with an NGO, Navjyoti India Foundation. They started dating in December, last year.
“On May 5, she came to Delhi from Khagaria with her mother Sandhya Chaurasia to write an examination. They were staying at a Paharganj hotel where she asked me to meet her,” Bansal said. He met Yashaswini outside the hotel around 6.15 pm on May 5. After 45 minutes, her mother asked her to come back to the room. “She (Yashaswini) wanted to run away with me. She didn’t want to go back. But, I convinced her and told her that we would convince her parents some day,” Bansal, a law graduate from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, added.
As her mother feared that she might meet Bansal again, Yashaswini was not allowed to step out of the hotel to write the Delhi Judicial Services examination on May 6. Next, Bansal was called to the hotel where the mother verbally abused him and warned him to stay away from her daughter. Yashaswini later returned to Khagaria along with her mother on May 8.
The parents thrash their daughter
On May 8, at around 6.45 pm, Bansal got a call from Yashaswini’s number. She didn’t speak. He could only hear her scream as her parents beat her up. The call was disconnected after two minutes. Within a few seconds, he got another call, this time her mother warned Bansal again and used expletives, he claims. Again, around 6.55 pm they called to make him hear Yashaswini crying for help as they thrashed her.
The next day, Yashaswini messaged Bansal from her mother’s phone asking him to approach National Commission For Women (NCW). He met Sushma Sahu at NCW who was apprehensive as the woman was not present to register the complaint. However, she believed Bansal and called and mailed Khagaria SP Meenu Kumari underlining the issues faced by Yashaswini.
On May 8, at around 6.45 pm, Bansal got a call from Yashaswini’s number. She didn’t speak. He could only hear her scream as her parents beat her up.
Bansal was later informed by the judge’s daughter that the SP visited her residence, but did not take any action. “She even told Yashaswini’s parents to put ice under her eyes as they were swollen but didn’t warn them. Her parents showed her an old FIR that she had registered against her ex-boyfriend who had abused her. Yashaswini told me later,” Bansal said.
On May 11, Yashaswini wrote an e-mail to Bansal saying that her life was under threat from her family. On May 14, he approached NCW again. They called the Khagaria SP and Mahila Thana SHO Kiran Kumari. Kumari visited her residence on May 14 evening. However, she informed NCW that Yashaswini refused to give her statement. Bansal asserted that the SHO is not telling the truth and “her father is not allowing her to speak on the record”.
On May 14, Bansal also met Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal after his office gave him an appointment. According to Bansal, Kejriwal told him that he would not be able to help him as the girl is from Bihar. “He added that he could ask Delhi Commision for Women (DCW) to intervene, however, he also told me that it would not be of much help,” Bansal said.
Bansal reaches Khagaria, meets the father
On May 22, Bansal reached Khagaria from Delhi along with a senior colleague. The two met SP Kumari on May 23. She directed them to visit Mahila Thana. They registered their complaint at the Mahila Thana and met District Magistrate Aniruddh Kumar. Bansal claimed that none of the officials took any concrete action while they listened to his grievances.
On May 24, Bansal’s senior colleague met Bihar DGP KS Dwivedi in Begusarai. The DGP underlined that strict action should be taken against Judge Chaurasia for illegally confining his daughter. On the same day, the editor of local news website Koshi Express showed interest and published Bansal’s story.
Bansal visited Yashaswini’s residence on May 25. He was not allowed to enter. Later, the SHO asked him to remain present at the local court where Chaurasia met him. “He (Chaurasia) told me that he does not have a problem with an inter-caste marriage. He will allow his daughter to speak to me and marry me only if I become a judge or a civil servant,” Bansal said.
“I told him that it is not easy to become a judge or a civil servant. I am a successful lawyer, and I can keep Yashaswini happy. My family is also very respected. I asked him to trust me,” Bansal added. The father, in return, asked how he could trust him. He asked Bansal to write his family members’ names and professions so that he could verify if he were not lying. “He also abused me,” claimed Banal.
Yashaswini e-mails ministers, to no avail.
On June 1, Bansal filed a habeas corpus petition in the Supreme Court to present Yashaswini, rescue her and record her statement. However, the apex court rejected his petition saying that they “cannot give him the girl’s custody”.
Bansal claimed that on May 26, a protection officer visited Yashaswini at her Bihar residence. The officer asked her to take her complaint back. “On June 9, her father took her to Lucknow for All India Bar Examination. It was an attempt by him to highlight that he has not confined his daughter,” Bansal said.
“On June 2, she e-mailed Home Minister Rajnath Singh. On June 4, she wrote to Union Minister Maneka Gandhi too. She also narrated her grievance to NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma, Bihar DGP KS Dwivedi and Bihar State Women’s Commission member Savita Natrajan in separate e-mails. But, nobody came forward to help her and take her out from the illegal confinement of her parents,” Bansal said.
On his part, besides seeking help from the NCW, Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal and Supreme Court, Bansal also wrote to Delhi Commissioner of Police Amulya Patnaik.
Now, Bansal has approached Love Commandos, a voluntary non-profit organisation which helps and protects couples in love from harassment and honour killing. “We have written to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, and we are trying to connect to other people to get the girl released from the house arrest,” Love Commandos’ founder Sanjay Sachdeva said.
Bansal is worried that after Judge Chaurasia retires on June 30, he will lock his daughter in another place. Yashaswini is a law graduate from Chanakya National Law University. Now, she is neither allowed to work anywhere nor meet anybody outside her house. The powerful father has so far managed to make everyone dance to his tunes.
Yashasvini’s fate mirrors that of many many women in India. Women who are not treated as adults- not by their family and not even by the very authorities meant to protect their rights. In this case, it is a tragic irony that the man who has locked her up happens to be a judge- a person responsible for delivering justice to others. Shame.
Here’s a sequence of the events:
May 5 Yashaswini reaches Delhi, meets Siddharth Bansal.
May 6 Mother Sandhya Chaurasia doesn’t allow her to write Delhi Judicial Services examination.
Bansal meets girl’s mother, and she verbally abuses him.
May 8 Yashaswini reaches Khagaria along with her mother.
Bansal gets a call from Yashaswini’s number. He can hear her cry as her parents beat her up.
Later, Khagaria District and Sessions Judge Subhash Chandra Chaurasia (girl’s father) warns him to stay away from his daughter.
The mother calls him again and verbally abuses him.
May 9 Yashaswini asks Bansal to approach NCW.
NCW writes to Khagaria SP Meenu Kumari.
The SP visit’s the judge’s house where Yashaswini is confined but doesn’t take any action.
May 11 Bansal gets a message from Yashaswini. She claims that her life is under threat.
May 14 Bansal approaches NCW again.
NCW contacts Khagaria SP Meenu Kumari and Khagaria Mahila1 Thana. Mahila Thana SHO Kiran Kumari visits Yashaswini’s residence and claims that she refused to give any statement.
Bansal also meets Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal who asserted that he couldn’t help him as the girl is in Bihar.
May 22 Bansal reaches Khagaria along with his senior colleague.
May 23 Bansal met Khagaria SP Meenu Kumari, District Magistrate Aniruddh Kumar and registered a complaint in Mahila Thana.
May 24 Bansal’s senior colleague meets Bihar DGP KS Dwivedi in Begusarai. The story is published in Koshi Express.
May 25 Bansal visits Yashaswini’s residence. He isn’t allowed to enter. Bansal meets Yashaswini’s father at the local court in Khagaria.
May 26 Protection officer Rubi visits Ysshaswini at her residence and asks her to take her complaint back.
June 1 Bansal registers a habeas corpus petition in the Supreme Court.
June 2 Yashaswini writes to Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
June 4 Yashaswini writes to Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi.
June 9 Yashaswini’s father accompanies her to Lucknow for All India Bar Examination.
June 19 NGO Love Commandos writes to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.