GUWAHATI: A woman from Sadiya in Assam, Indira Deori, alias Jenny, has once again raised serious allegations against former Uttarakhand Cabinet Minister and veteran Congress leader Harak Singh Rawat, demanding legal recognition of her 23-year-old son’s paternity.
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Addressing a press conference at the Gauhati Press Club, Jenny on Wednesday claimed that she met Rawat in Dehradun in 2002, when she was just 16 years old and working there.
According to Jenny, she was taken to Rawat’s residence on the promise of employment.
She alleged that within two to three days of staying there, she was sexually assaulted.
She further claimed that she was subsequently moved to different locations and eventually confined to an institution, where she was unable to contact anyone.
Jenny said a medical examination later revealed that she was pregnant.
On June 3, 2003, she gave birth to a baby boy. She claimed that when hospital authorities asked for the father’s name, she mentioned Harak Singh Rawat.
She further alleged that after the birth, her child was taken away and she was not allowed to see him.
She also questioned whether a DNA test had been conducted at that time.
Jenny claimed that she was unable to understand Hindi or English and that a government lawyer had obtained her signatures on several documents without properly explaining their contents. She alleged that the lawyer was acting in Rawat’s interest.
Recounting her ordeal, Jenny said police personnel took her from Dehradun to Uttar Pradesh and later brought her back to her home in Sadiya, Assam. She alleged that she was threatened and warned against returning.
She further claimed that after reaching Sadiya, she contacted Rawat by phone and was subsequently called to Delhi, where she stayed at the residence of one of his acquaintances for three to four months before being shifted to a hotel.
Jenny said the issue resurfaced when she was asked to provide the father’s name while admitting her son to school. She alleged that Rawat subsequently began avoiding her.
Now, Jenny is demanding a fresh DNA test and a renewed CBI investigation to establish her son’s biological identity.
She maintained that her demand has no political motive and said her only objective is to secure justice and establish her son’s rightful identity.
“I want justice for my son. He deserves to know who his father is,” Jenny said at the press conference.
Yesterday, she met Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and sought justice.
“Yesterday I met Jenny, a resident of Assam. What a man named Harak Singh Rawat from Uttarakhand did to her is extremely wrong and reprehensible. No one should have to suffer the kind of cruelty she endured. I stand firmly with her in this fight for justice,” Sarma wrote on X in Hindi, sharing a photograph of his meeting with Jenny.
Meanwhile, Rawat strongly denied the rape allegations levelled against him by Jenny from Assam and accused the BJP and the State government of reviving a two-decade-old case for political reasons. Addressing a press conference, Rawat reportedly claimed that the controversy has been deliberately reignited to divert public attention from other key issues.
