Gruesome details emerge in Kathua rape

An overdose of sedatives, forcibly administered to an eightyear-old rape victim during her captivity in Kathua in the northern Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, could have pushed her into coma before she was killed, forensic medical experts have said.

The crime branch of the Jammu and Kashmir Police, probing the gang rape-andmurder case, sent a sample of her viscera to a forensic laboratory earlier this month to examine the effect of “mannar” candies (believed to be local cannabis) and Epitril 0.5 mg tablets, administered to the girl by her captors.

State of shock

According to the medical opinion received recently by the crime branch, the doctors said the tablet given to the eight-year-old girl could have pushed her into a state of shock or coma (loss of consciousness).

The crime branch had asked medical experts to comment on the plausible effect of the medicine on an eight-year-old girl with an empty stomach.

The crime branch decided to seek further medical opinion after it was claimed by the accused and their lawyers in the court, as well as on social media through their supporters, that it was virtually impossible that the girl could not have cried for help.