Chittorgarh village Panchayat members allegedly tried to save the upper caste man who is an accused of raping a mentally-unstable Dalit woman. The accused man did this by offering the survivor's family a 'settlement' amount. The video of Panchayat members preventing the family from registering a case against accused has gone viral on social media. 

According to the reports, the accused name Seetaram Jat, 38, supposedly took a 35-year-old woman to the outskirts of Bejnakia village on May 18, 2018. He then allegedly raped that mentally-unstable Dalit woman. The victim was living as a vagrant as earlier she was disowned by her family.

The initial reports say that the panchayat let go the main accused man after imposing a fine of Rs. 51,000 and prevented the survivor family against registering the matter to the police. The panchayat was attended by members from four villages. They also prevented that women to undergo the medical examination. 

On Tuesday, an FIR has been lodged on the intervention of an NGO named Gramin Mahila Vikas Sansthan. The NGO is working for the rights of the women.  

Mamta Singh Chohan, the NGO member told a leading daily that the man took the woman to an isolated area and raped her. When the man was returning with the victim, some villagers caught the accused and he confessed to the crime, reports TOI. 

Chohan further said that even more shocking was the fact that when the police were notified about the rape, a policeman was sent to the village who, rather of counselling the survivor’s family, took a report from it that it did not want any police action against the accused. 

According to the police officials, further investigations into the case are underway.