Photo Courtesy: India Today Group
Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma is throwing his weight behind Jenny, an Assam local fighting for justice in a 23-year-old paternity battle against former Uttarakhand minister Harak Singh Rawat. Sarma met with Jenny on November 10 and voiced his outrage over the matter on social media the following day. He wrote, "Yesterday, I met Jeni, a resident of Assam. What a person named Harak Singh Rawat from Uttarakhand did to her was extremely wrong and condemnable. The abuse she was subjected to should never happen to anyone. I stand firmly by her side in her fight for justice."
Jenny traveled back to Dehradun recently to demand a fresh Central Bureau of Investigation probe and a new DNA test to determine the paternity of her 23-year-old son. She addressed the media at the Uttaranchal Press Club and called on Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami to intervene. She plans to stay in Dehradun until authorities meet her demands. The woman claims the initial CBI investigation failed because agents ignored her account and never collected samples from her son. She wants a narco test and state protection, citing recent threats.
The controversy ignited in 2003 when allegations against Rawat first surfaced. A state Assembly inquiry and a subsequent CBI investigation followed. The CBI previously cleared Rawat after a DNA test showed no match between him and the child. Rawat denies all charges, including rape. He claims the BJP is dragging up old business to damage the Congress party. He has challenged his accusers to face court-supervised DNA testing to settle the matter once and for all.
Updated at 11th November 2026 at 5:48pm
Indira Deori, who goes by the name Jenny, revealed during a press conference at the Guwahati Press Club that she was only 16 when the saga began in 2002. She says she traveled to Dehradun chasing a job opportunity, only to be sexually assaulted within days of arrival. Deori claims her captors shuffled her between locations and eventually locked her in an institution where she was cut off from the outside world.
She alleges that after giving birth on June 3, 2003, hospital staff whisked the baby away, preventing her from seeing him. Deori contends she couldn't understand Hindi or English at the time, accusing a government lawyer of tricking her into signing legal documents that served Rawat's interests rather than her own. According to her account, police later hauled her from Dehradun to Uttar Pradesh before dumping her back in her home village of Sadiya with stern warnings to stay away.
Deori claims the ordeal dragged on for years, involving a months-long stint at a Delhi residence linked to Rawat. The issue reached a breaking point when school enrollment forms forced her to list her son's father, prompting her to reach out to Rawat, who she says subsequently began dodging her calls.
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