Police expand suspect list in Haryana Dalit girl’s rape, murder, friend missing

Dr S K Dhattarwal, head of Forensic Medicine at Rohtak’s PGIMS, told The Indian Express earlier that as many as 19 injuries were found on her body during the post-mortem. “It doesn’t seem a case of rape by one person. She was probably sexually assaulted by more than two persons. They might have tried to thrust some object in her vagina also. Her liver was found ruptured,” he said.

“There was only a torn shirt on her body. There were injuries all over her body, including on the face, neck, lips and chest,” he said.

Alleging police negligence, the victim’s family said they went to the police station on January 9 itself. They told the police that they suspected a Dalit boy from the village — a Class XII student of the same school where the girl studied — who has been missing since that day. “The boy and girl went to the same teacher for tuitions,” said a teacher of the school.

“We informed the police on January 9, around 11 pm. The police went to the house of the suspect, but he was missing. If the police had detained his family members immediately, they would have found some clues,” said the girl’s father.

“If the police had acted on time, my daughter would have been alive today,” said her mother. The couple have another daughter, younger to the victim.

DGP B S Sandhu said the SHO of the police station, Rampal, has been suspended.

According to sources, call detail records showed that the girl and boy were in regular touch over the last few months. “They had a long chat over the phone on January 9 also, the day she went missing,” said a police officer who is part of the investigating team.

He, however, said they were looking at other angles too. “It’s also possible that they were abducted by some other youths. We can’t rule this out as the boy is yet to be found,” he said.

The boy’s house in the village was locked. A neighbour said the police had detained the boy’s father and brother on January 13, a day after the girl’s body was found.

“We have detained about 10 persons, including the boy’s relatives for questioning. The sections of gangrape have been added in the FIR, though the investigation is still on,” said Kurukshetra SP Abhishek Garg.

Minister of State for Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes Krishan Kumar Bedi and Namrata Gaur, member of Haryana State Commission for Women, were among those who visited the victim’s family on Monday.

Referring to the recent incidents of rape, Bedi said: “The DGP and other senior officers are monitoring the progress of these cases. Several police teams have been set up to probe the Kurukshetra case.”

An 11-year-old Dalit girl was gangraped and murdered in Panipat district on Sunday. In another incident, a 45-year-old labourer was arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl and inserting a wooden stick inside her near Pinjore on Sunday night.

Meanwhile, the village in Kurukshetra is in a state of shock, and fear. “I have three daughters… I am worried about their safety now,” said a neighbour.