Alleging discrepancies in autopsy reports of a 20-year-old dalit girl who was allegedly raped and murdered in Jind, an NGO has demanded that the case be handed over to CBI or an "independent inquiry" ordered at the earliest.
A "fact finding team" constituted by All India Dalit Adhikar Manch (AIDMAM) claimed it had found that while the first post mortem report stated that the hymen was ruptured, the findings of the second autopsy at Rohtak state that the hymen was intact and said it "clearly indicates callousness on the part of the authorities".
It also alleged that the post-morten was delayed and was conducted "with a shocking lack of care probably by an unqualified member of the mortuary staff and the two botched post-mortems have destroyed valuable evidence in the case".
The NGO claimed that the body was in a fairly advanced state of decomposition and the uterus had been removed during the first post-mortem when taken to AIIMS for the third autopsy.
Moreover, the AIIMS post mortem found no traces of poison in the viscera, while the Haryana police claimed it to be a case of suspected suicide, it said.
Also it claimed that the team's meeting with the father and mother of the deceased revealed that the local police didn't lodge an FIR at the first instance on August 24 because of which the search for the girl was delayed by several hours.
The mother and other women who had examined the girl's body found that her salwar was drenched in blood, there were scratches and wounds on both of the girl's thighs and calves and there were cigarette marks on her upper torso, it said.
The team on the basis of their findings today demanded that the case should be transferred to the CBI or a separate committee should be constituted to conduct an independent enquiry.
They also demanded that the culprits be arrested at the earliest and action be taken against the policemen, who beat up the protesters, and the official, who allegedly kicked the body of the girl.
"I think we need to connect the sexual violence against women to the economic activities associated around lives of dalit women and working women. We still see sexual violence as an isolated incidents of aberration," said Vrinda Grover, a human-rights lawyer and advocate.
"Through this case, we want to call for a national agitation by dalit and women organisations across the country," said Professor Vimal Thorat, Convenor, (AIDMAM).
The 20 year-old woman was found dead on August 25, near Amarheri area in Jind, Haryana where she had come to appear for the Junior Basic Teachers Test. The family members of the victim alleged that she was raped and murdered.
