Confusion prevails over Dalit girl’s cause of death
KURUKSHETRA: The Kurukshetra police on Monday said the final forensic report of the minor Dalit girl, whose mutilated body was found last month, suggests drowning as the cause of death, indicating that the possibility of sexual assault before killing was bleak.
The girl belonged to Jhansa village of Kurukshetra.
Kurukshetra superintendent of police (SP) Abhishek Garg said, “The doctors at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS) Rohtak submitted their final report that suggests that the cause of death of the girl was drowning and the vaginal injuries in her body were caused after death.”
“The development is important and this may change the theory of investigation,” said a senior police officer associated with the investigation.
However, the doctors of PGIMS Rohtak who conducted the postmortem refused to speak, saying they were not authorised to speak to the media.
The head of forensic department, Dr SK Dhatterwal, also refused to comment on the claims of the police.
When pressed further, Dr Dhatterwal said he was out of station and busy in a conference and will revert back tomorrow (Tuesday).
PRESENCE OF SEMEN ALREADY RULED OUT
Earlier, the forensic experts had denied the presence of semen in the viscera of the victim, following which, police sent the forensic science laboratory (FSL) report to the panel of doctors at PGIMS for a final version.
The SP confirmed that chemical analysis by experts at FSL in Madhuban only found canal water from the viscera samples.
THE CASE
On January 12, the mutilated body of the 15-year-old girl was found near a canal in Budha Khera village of Jind’s Safidon town last month with her private parts mutilated and liver ruptured, three days after she mysteriously disappeared with an 18-year-old youth Gulshan Kandara of her village.
However, a PGIMS doctor had earlier said that sexual assault could also be a cause of death as there were injuries into her internal organs, besides 19 injuries on her body including inside her mouth.
But the police said that the doctor who gave the above statement was not among those who conducted the postmortem of the girl.
Even the autopsy report of Gulshan, whose body was found in the same canal in Kurukshetra on January 15, denied any internal or external injury marks on the body and indicated drowning as the cause of death.
The case has become difficult for the Kurukshetra police, who are already facing criticism for its ‘wrong theories’ as earlier, Gulshan’s involved in the murder and rape of the girl was suspected and pertaining to that, the police had detained several persons from his friend and family circle.
KURUKSHETRA COPS ALREADY FACING CRITICISM FOR ‘WRONG THEORIES’ IN CASE