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Journalism of Courage
Thirty police officers of Dahod district, dressed as teachers with pockets full of chocolates, spent the day of Friday, speaking to students of a primary school in Pipaliya village in Singwad taluka of the district, trying to piece the sequence of events that could have led to the alleged murder of a six-year-old girl, a Class 1 student of the school on Thursday. Hours after the body of the minor was recovered from the backyard of the school building on Thursday evening, a panel autopsy confirmed that she had died from asphyxia due to smothering, prompting the police to lodge a case of murder.
The body of the minor was discovered by her family on Thursday at a primary school in Singwad taluka, after conducting a search of the locked school campus, when she did not return home as usual with the other students and teachers of the area. “When she did not return home until 6pm, we went to the school to look for her but the gates were locked. We jumped over the boundary wall and searched the premises of the locked school. After a long search, we found her in an unconscious state in the backyard, between the classroom building and the compound wall… We rushed her to the hospital, where she was declared dead on arrival,” said a relative of the minor.
Several teams of the Dahod district police rushed to the spot late on Thursday evening, cordoning off the 1.5 feet backyard that separated the school building from the boundary wall, where the body had been found. The police also sent the body of the minor for panel autopsy at a government hospital on Friday. Dahod Superintendent of Police Rajdeepsinh Zala told The Indian Express that the primary cause of death had been confirmed by the post mortem. Zala said, “The primary cause of death is asphyxia due to smothering… We have checked that the child did not have any respiratory issues and so we have registered a case of murder at Randhikpur police station, against unidentified persons… The autopsy has not confirmed if the minor was subjected to any assault before her death but we are awaiting the histopathological report.”
Zala added, “A team of 30 officers has fanned out, dressed as teachers and social workers, carrying chocolates and conducting themselves in gentle ways to interact with other children in the school so that they speak of Thursday’s events without fear…”
The primary investigation of the police has revealed that the minor used to travel to school– located about a kilometer away– like other children from her area, either walking in groups or with teachers, who would offer the children a ride. Zala said, “On Thursday morning, she arrived in the school with the Principal, we have learnt. However, since there was no designated person to pick the children back from school, they used to return in different groups… No one may have noticed that she has not come along… We are working on the clues.”
Zala said that following the post mortem, the girl’s body was handed over to her family for the last rites on Friday.
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