Raina Singh, a Class 4 student of the City Montessori School in Lucknow, is sitting at the “dharna sthal” in front of the Vidhan Sabha, instead of going to school. She carries a placard in her hand which says, “Akhilesh Bhaiyya, humko gundon se bachao. Mujhe Phoolan Devi banne par majboor mat karo.” (Akhilesh brother, save us from the goons. Don’t force me to become another Phoolan Devi). The little girl relates her tale of woe and fear and apprehension is written clearly on her weather-beaten face. Raina lives in the Lucknow police lines with her family and her mother Ruchi Rani is a police personnel posted in the intelligence department. Her father Vikram Singh is pursuing a MBA course from Gwalior, Raina’s 16-year old cousin also lives with the family in Lucknow. According to the girl, their neighbour Shiv Lochan’s sons, Akhilesh, Kailash and Arvind, along with one of their cousins, have been harassing her cousin since the past one month. “Shiv Lochan’s nephew knocked at our house around 10 pm one night and when my cousin opened the door, he started misbehaving with her. My father heard the commotion and scolded the boys but all the three sons of Shiv Lochan also came there and beat up my father,” she says. While Raina’s father was being beaten up, her mother Ruchi Rani, came to his rescue but the boys misbehaved with her too.“When my mother reported the incident to the concerned authorities in the police lines, they asked her to reach a compromise with Shiv Lochan. Now the three boys are threatening to abduct my cousin,” she says.
