The Uttar Pradesh police claim that forensic sampling and post-mortem examination of the 19-year-old Dalit woman from Hathras did not establish rape has raised questions about the authenticity of the two reports, as the claim was made before they the Special Investigation will be completed. Investigation team (SIT), forensic and legal experts said. The deadline for the SIT investigation is October 7.
The Hathras woman was allegedly gang-raped and brutally tortured on 14 September. She succumbed to her injuries at the Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi on Tuesday.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had set up the three-member SIT to investigate the Hathras incident on Wednesday, they were asked to submit the report in seven days. The SIT is headed by Home Secretary Bhagwan Swaroop. Its other two members are Deputy Inspector General Chandra Prakash and Commander, PAC Agra, Poonam (who has only one name).
Social activist and lawyer Nutan Thakur said that it was highly questionable that police officers denied the rape while the investigation was still ongoing. It showed the premeditated attitude of the police investigators, he alleged.
Thakur said senior police officials should properly analyze the facts before reaching any conclusions during the course of the investigation for such a serious crime. He also questioned the delay in collecting samples for forensic examination, as it could change the line of investigation.
“In addition, the victim’s statement recorded before death, during which alleged sexual assault, is crucial to the investigation,” he said.
The statement denying the rape also suggests that the police were trying to pressure the victim’s family, he alleged.
A senior forensic expert based in Lucknow, who requested anonymity, asked if the victim’s sample was collected within a certain period of time to determine whether she had been sexually assaulted.
He asked if the police kept other evidence, such as the clothes the victim was wearing at the time of the crime and samples of her nails, since there was the maximum possibility that these could establish whether or not she had been sexually assaulted.
It has not yet been confirmed whether the police retained other evidence, such as clothing and nail samples.
“The state police have always lacked forensic evidence of sexual assault,” he said, questioning the effectiveness of the police in handling such serious cases.
He said that DNA from semen would not be detected if the vaginal swab were collected one week after the rape or sexual assault. In this particular case, the sample was collected 10 days after the alleged violation on September 14, he added.
He said that the presence of semen on clothing could be detected for life.
The additional director general (law and order) Prashant Kumar had stated that the samples for forensic examination were collected when the victim spoke about sexual assault in an Aligarh hospital and (the samples) were sent to the Agra forensic science laboratory on 25 of September.
On Thursday, ADG Kumar and Hathras District Magistrate Praveen Kumar had denied the violation based on post-mortem examination and report from Agra Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL).
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