NAGPUR: Forgotten for decades, rescued overnight. A 1972 rape survivor whose case reshaped India’s sexual-assault laws was found living in a collapsing hut in eastern Maharashtra, abandoned by welfare systems that should have carried her. A TOI front-page report triggered a wave of response from across India and far beyond, ensuring support for the woman.Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis responded immediately after the TOI report appeared on Nov 30, assuring assistance to the 72-year-old woman known only as “Mathura”. Others followed. Bankers, private-sector workers, film producers, Bollywood personalities, US-based activists — people from every corner began reaching out Sunday, asking how to help. Several are preparing to travel toher remote village, roughly 150km from Nagpur.Chandrapur district authorities moved first. Within hours, officials committed Rs 10 lakh — Rs 5 lakh from the DC office employees’ welfare fund and another Rs 5 lakh from CSR contributions by a power plant group. They also cleared monthly rations of 30kg, a home under Gharkul or Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, and support through other schemes.“Mathura” became an emblem of systemic injustice after two policemen accused of raping her inside Desaiganj police station were acquitted by the Supreme Court in 1979. The ruling in Tukaram vs State of Maharashtra ignited nationwide protests and spurred wide-ranging changes in the country’s rape law in 1983.
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