Rape victim's father opposes CBI closure plea

Even as the CBI has sought closure of the case related to the rape of a seven-year-old girl at Vasco, the victim's father today filed an application in a local court alleging that there were serious lapses in the investigation.
In his application submitted before Apurva Nagvekar, Judicial Magistrate First Class at Vasco, the victim's father opposed the CBI's application seeking closure of the case as they could not find the accused and sought that thorough investigation be carried out in the case "as the culprit should not remain scot-free".
The girl was raped inside the toilet of her school by an unidentified person in January, 2013. The Goa Police's Crime Branch had conducted the investigation. However, since the police failed to identify the culprit, the case was handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which interrogated 391 suspects, but failed to achieve a breakthrough.

In December last year, the CBI had filed the application for closure of the case before the JMFC, which the victim's father has opposed.
In his two-page application, he said, "The report is bristling with inaccuracies and omissions, apart from indicating that no thorough investigation has yet been done in the case by the CBI."
The closure report is silent on the investigation carried out by CID (Crime Branch), he said adding, "The statement of the security guard, who was on duty on the fateful day, was not recorded by the CBI."

Pointing out several "omissions" in the probe, he said the CBI, which was entrusted with the investigation, because of dissatisfaction about prior investigation, has not further recorded the statement of the first informant, the suspects, the headmistress of the school and others considering that the investigation has to start from scratch," he claimed.

He also said that the identification parade of the suspects was not carried out.
The court today adjourned the case till July 4, when it would decide whether the CBI's application for closure of the investigation be allowed or not.