A key witness has come to light in the case of the alleged gang rape of a 22-year-old Dalit woman from Balrampur district in Uttar Pradesh, who later succumbed to her injuries. He is a local doctor, whom the two defendants first called to treat the victim in a room behind a grocery store run by one of the defendants in a nearby market.
The doctor told the media that one of the defendants visited his clinic to take him home to treat the victim, introducing her as a relative at around 5 p.m. on Tuesday.
The doctor said he became suspicious after finding the victim lying alone on a sofa.
“I immediately returned, saying that I would treat her only in the presence of her family members, and began to ask her for her father’s name and contact number.
The young men then told me that they would take the victim to the clinic with his father for treatment, but they did not. Then I found out that she died, “he said.
The victim’s mother had previously alleged that some young men abducted her when she was returning home from university and took her to a room where she was raped and abused.
The incident occurred on Tuesday when the woman had gone to enter a university near her village but did not return home until late at night, said Balrampur Police Superintendent (SP) Dev Ranjan Verma, who visited the Victim’s family with District Judge (DM) Krishna Karunesh on Thursday.
The woman later returned in a rickshaw with a glucose dropper inserted into her hand as family members searched for her.
Verma said family members said the woman’s condition was not good, so they took her to a nearby hospital and then to the Balrampur district hospital, where she succumbed to her injuries.
Although the family claimed that the woman’s hands and legs were fractured, police officers stated that no such injuries were confirmed on post-mortem examination.
The two defendants were arrested after an FIR was registered following a complaint filed by the victim’s brother, authorities said.
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The victim was cremated Wednesday night after a post-mortem examination by a panel of four doctors. Police claimed that the cremation was carried out by the family and villagers on their own.
According to the doctor’s account, there was no glucose drip on the victim’s hand when he visited her in the room where the accused was. He added that the woman complained of stomach pain and was fully conscious. Subsequently, the police recovered the victim’s sandals near the room.
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DM Krishna Karunesh and SP Dev Ranjan Verma assured family members that the case will be sent to a fast track court and that the strictest measures will be taken against the accused.
The DM delivered a letter of permission for ex gratia relief of Rs 6,18,750 to the victim’s father, assuring him of further assistance.
The defendants were registered under sections 376-D and 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for gang rape and murder, respectively. The aforementioned police officers added that further investigation was being carried out in the case.
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