The untold story of Champa Vishwas: A story that shook the soul of Bihar

Champa Vishwas Untold Story: In the heart of Bihar during the 1990s, amidst the era often termed “jungle raj,” an unspeakable horror unfolded that left a permanent scar on the life of an upright Dalit IAS officer’s family. It began with a seemingly ordinary political appointment and ended in a terrifying saga of sexual abuse, injustice, and silence that haunts the corridors of power to this day.

In 1990, D.D. Vishwas, a Dalit IAS officer from the 1982 batch, married Champa Vishwas. He was a man known for his integrity and discipline. By November 1995, the couple had shifted to Bailey Road in Patna, and D.D. Vishwas was appointed Secretary in the Department of Social Welfare. Soon after, RJD MLA Hemlata Yadav was made the Chairperson of the State Social Welfare Board and was allotted a residence next to the Vishwas family.

This geographical proximity sowed the seeds of a nightmare.

Hemlata’s 27-year-old son, Mrityunjay Yadav, noticed Champa Vishwas. What followed was a barbaric abuse of power and privilege. On September 7, 1995, Hemlata lured Champa to her home under a false pretext. Once inside, she was locked in a room where Mrityunjay raped her — while politicians and guests reportedly laughed outside. This wasn’t a one-time crime. It marked the beginning of two years of continuous, repeated sexual assault.

Mrityunjay began showing up at Champa’s residence at will. His atrocities did not stop at her. He soon assaulted her niece and even raped two domestic help workers employed at the IAS officer’s home. The family was threatened with annihilation if they dared to speak. The fear was so intense that silence became their only shield.

When the fear of illegitimate pregnancy arose, Hemlata reportedly forced Champa to undergo sterilization. The violations went unchecked, and those in power turned their faces away.

Eventually, in 1997, Champa confided in her husband. D.D. Vishwas, devastated and helpless, approached senior police officers. What he received in return was disturbing: advice to stay silent. “They’re powerful people,” he was told. “Fighting them will only destroy you.”

Despite this, Champa lodged a written complaint. But the local police took no action. Letters to the Governor and Home Ministry were either shelved or buried in bureaucracy. The then-DGP, Niyaz Ahmad, led an investigation that astonishingly declared Mrityunjay innocent.

The silence broke only when BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi took the issue to a press conference, exposing the systemic rot. Public outrage erupted. The magnitude of the crime — sustained rapes of an IAS officer’s wife, niece, and domestic help — shook the nation.

Under intense media pressure, Mrityunjay was arrested in 1997, followed by Hemlata’s surrender two months later. Both served three years in jail and were released on bail. A local Patna court later sentenced Mrityunjay to ten years and Hemlata to three. But since Hemlata had already served three years, she walked free without returning to prison.

Mrityunjay appealed in the Patna High Court, where the injustice reached its peak.

The High Court overturned the lower court’s verdict. The judge questioned why Champa remained silent for two years if she was being raped. The very trauma that silenced her was used to dismantle her case. Her sterilization and abortion were presented as signs of a consensual relationship. Mrityunjay’s lawyers painted a narrative that she had been in love with him and had concocted rape charges to protect her husband from corruption allegations.

Once again, the power structure prevailed. Mrityunjay and Hemlata were acquitted. No one — not from Patna nor Delhi — stood up for Champa or her shattered family.

Defeated and broken, the Vishwas family left Patna. When Jharkhand was carved out from Bihar, D.D. Vishwas was transferred there. He passed away later, having spent his final years away from the place he once served with pride. Champa, unable to live in Bihar, Delhi, or Jharkhand, faded into anonymity in Kolkata.

Her story is not just one of individual suffering. It is a chilling reminder of how power can bend justice, how victims can be silenced, and how a state can fail its own.

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