Chameli says she was trying to rescue her cousin from the grip of a group of hooligans trying to molest her during the violence and chaos that the rally had turned into when she herself fell into the trap. It was one Bhagiram Barman, a local shopkeeper, who not only helped her with his own shirt after she ran for about half-a-kilometre but also handed her over to the police. By then, Chameli had been trapped in several cameras and numerous cellphones — and then on national TV.

She is the youngest child and the only daughter of Mangloo Orang, 65, a farmer, who recalls with pride the story of how his grandfather Kripa had come as a labourer from Chandapara in Ranchi to the tea gardens in Assam during the Raj. Orang has, incidentally, served a five-year term in jail in connection with a murder case in a property dispute — he claims his ancestral property was being fraudulently grabbed.

Chameli’s mother Durga is illiterate. “I know something very bad has happened with my daughter. But I am proud that she is facing it bravely,” she says.

Orang’s family of nine (including two grandchildren) live in two huts made of bamboo mats and tin roofs, one having three rooms plus a verandah. The other has two rooms and is one of the few which has an electricity connection in the village.

The family has nine bighas with the three sons helping the father grow paddy that helps meet the family’s requirement for the whole year. “We don’t have to buy rice but it is difficult to make both ends meet,” says Orang. “I don’t know what my sons will do if they don’t get jobs. It is not possible for the three of them to run their families when they grow up with the land that I have.”

... contd.