The girl’s body was exhumed for autopsy on Wednesday in the presence of a police team and the tehsildar.
Bhopal:
Two months after a teenage girl died by suicide after being allegedly gang-raped by seven men at a wedding in Chhattisgarh, her father attempted suicide on Tuesday, apparently because he could not get the police to file an FIR and investigate. Yesterday, the Chhattisgarh police exhumed the girl’s body and arrested five of the seven defendants.
The body, buried by his family on the outskirts of their village in Kondagaon district, was unearthed for an autopsy, police said.
“Two defendants remain missing. A special investigation team led by Kondagaon Police Superintendent Anand Sahu has been formed to investigate the matter,” said Bastar Inspector General P. Sundarraj.
According to the girl’s family, she was assaulted in July, but police say they were not informed until local media highlighted it on Wednesday.
The victim’s uncle has refuted the police claims saying that they had informed the police and were assured of action.
“One day after the rape, when she was alone at home with her brothers, she hanged herself. We took her down and tried to get an ambulance, but she died. As her parents were not in the village, we did not incinerate her. But they buried her in the presence of Everyone. The police called us a few days later and said they were registering an FIR, but the defendant continued to roam freely for months, “said the girl’s uncle.
Citing the girl’s friend and a witness allegedly threatened by the defendant, Sundarraj said that two men dragged her into a forest where she was sexually assaulted by five other people.
The next morning, she returned home and committed suicide, she said.
“His body was exhumed from the grave on Wednesday for autopsy in the presence of a police team and the tehsildar. One case of gang rape has been recorded,” Sundarraj said.
He acknowledged that the girl’s father also tried to end her life, but added that the exact motive for his actions is “unknown”.
The alleged inaction of the police comes amid national outrage at the horror of Hathras, in which a young woman died of serious injuries after being assaulted by four upper caste men from her village.
The BJP opponent in Chhattisgarh strongly condemned the incident and accused the ruling Congress of failing to protect women in the state.
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