Dahod schoolgirl rape and murder case: Prosecution, defence complete their submissions before court; verdict on April 17

Special PP Nair told The Indian Express, “The submissions of the prosecution and the defence have been completed. The court will pronounce the judgment on April 17.”

A total of 31 prosecution witnesses were examined in the case, including child witnesses as well as teachers and others, who had last seen the victim with the accused.

The 1,700-page chargesheet filed by the Dahod police within 12 days of the crime, which occurred on September 19, 2024, had laid emphasis on the forensic evidence collected in the case, which was also the first in Gujarat to include ‘Touch DNA’ or the rare Epithelial Cell DNA profiling as well as forensic vehicle analysis to tighten the case against the accused.

The Dahod police relied heavily on Epithelial Cell DNA testing to extract evidence from the car in which the alleged crime occurred, although the accused allegedly attempted to destroy evidence by sending the vehicle for a wash to Godhra.

Dahod district Superintendent of Police, Rajdeepsinh Zala, had told this newspaper, “Epithelial cell DNA analysis is very rare in crime investigation but it is very fruitful. Generally, epithelial cells are found in the subcutaneous layer of our skin; any contact that is violent sees transfer of epithelial cells. The same epithelial cells are also found in any kind of body fluid like saliva, vomit, blood… Such cells are transferred in heinous act between the victim and accused. We have analysed epithelial cells and extracted DNA from it and done DNA profiling…”

Zala added that since the victim had apparently vomited in the car of the accused while he allegedly tried to force himself upon her and then smothered her to death, the forensic vehicle analysis of the car helped the police gather “strong evidence”. The Dahod police has also used psychological analysis of crime scenes to create a watertight chargesheet against the accused.

Zala said, “Usually, psychological analysis is done for criminals, but we have also done psychological analysis of the crime scene to ascertain whether the crime can be committed in that area at the specified time… We have not left any stone unturned in the case and have delved deep into forensic science.”

A state government release had also emphasised on the scientific technologies used in the case. These included digital evidence, forensic DNA analysis, and forensic biological analysis, along with forensic chemistry, forensic vehicle analysis, forensic toxicology and forensic voice spectrography.

It was on the evening of September 19, 2024, that the family of the victim found her body in the backyard of her primary school in the district, after launching a hunt when the six-year-old did not return from school with the principal or other teacher or schoolmates. The family told the police that the mother of the victim had sent the minor girl in the car of the accused principal on her way to school that morning. The principal was arrested on September 22 for alleged rape and murder of the victim.