Lalita case — France begins judicial probe

Lalita has told an anti-slavery organisation, Comite Contre L’esclavage Modern (CCEM), through interpreters, that the injuries were the work of Lugon and a doctor friend of his. She told them that she had been drugged and pointing to her sex said that they had cut her so she could not get pregnant.

The Prosecutor’s office,announcing the judicial investigation, said that Lalita’s injuries were clear-cut and compatible with the use of a knife. The injuries could not have been self-inflicted. It said that the injuries were recent but that it was difficult to establish an exact date.

The Prosecutor has nominated an ad hoc administrator for Lalita. Lalita’s age has been put at 17 by French doctors who examined her on September 6, as opposed to 19 as stated on her official passport.

As a minor, she is currently the ward of the special Judge for Children. Lalita is in a Paris hospital being treated for major injuries to her back and feet, which she received when she jumped off a six-metre wall at St Joseph of Cluny Convent.

The Government of India, in its effort to win the public relations battle in the case has been creative with the facts. Earlier this week, it claimed that a medical report from the French authorities has “absolved” it of all responsibility for Lalita’s condition. This, however, was not the case.

In averbal communication, a French official told an Indian Embassy official that Lalita had been examined by three doctors, there was no mention of a gynaecologist.

Indian authorities went so far as to suggest that the injuries that Lalita suffered were the responsibility of the French authorities.