A day after Rajasthan police discovered the body of an 19-year-old woman from a well on Friday who was allegedly abducted and attacked with acid in Karauli in eastern Rajasthan, the mother of the deceased said that there were two-three men who came quietly, put a cloth on her mouth and bundled her inside a car.
"And now she’s dead, with a bullet in the chest and acid on her face after being gang-raped,” the woman alleged.
It has been reported that the girl’s mother gave a written complaint to the police and an FIR was lodged under IPC sections 302 (murder), 376D (gang-rape), 326A (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by use of acid), 363 (kidnapping) and 366 (kidnapping or abducting a woman to compel her marriage or to cause her defilement) against unknown accused.
Considering the extent of brutality, it is suspected that acid was used to disfigure her face to prevent her identification.
The incident also triggered a political tension involving the BJP, Congress, BSP and AAP.
It has been reported that the girl was pursuing BA, while her two sisters and a brother are all minors.
For the last six years, their father has been working as a labourer in Dubai
As per media reports, following the incident, the mother called a relative from Jaipur who reached their village around 10 am Wednesday.
“Around 10 of us searched for her for hours but couldn’t find her anywhere. In the evening, we approached the police station,” the relative said.
“The policemen told us to wait till next morning, saying she will return home… They refused to lodge an FIR and threatened us. So we had no option but to return home,” he later added, as per media reports.
On Thursday morning, the girl’s mother got to know about a body being spotted in a well. It was fished out around noon, using a rope that was tied around the waist.
She said she informed her husband in Dubai, “but he won’t be able to come as he had come home on leave just three months ago”.
The local police registered a case of unnatural death under CrPC section 174. Prima facie, the police assumed the girl had died by drowning.
About the postmortem
The first post-mortem was conducted at the Hindaun government hospital between 5 pm and 7 pm Thursday, said Pushpendra Gupta, Principal Medical Officer, while the second one was conducted sometime after 9.30 pm Thursday.
The first post-mortem was conducted by four doctors from Hindaun government hospital.
But for the second one, a different team was constituted on orders of the District Collector, and all three doctors came from the district headquarters in Karauli.
When asked about the first postmortem, PMO Gupta said, “There was a firearm injury in the chest, face and hands were burnt, as if from acid, and the body was checked for rape. While firearm injury is confirmed – a bullet was retrieved from the body – the other two can be confirmed only after the preserved samples have been analysed.”
He said the second post-mortem was videographed after the family insisted. Although the family claimed that several details were not revealed in the post-mortem, Gupta said that they did confirm to the family about a bullet being retrieved from the girl’s body, the acid attack and the possibility of rape after the first post-mortem itself.
A political slugfest
After the first postmortem, BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP Dr Kirodi Lal Meena alleged a cover up and demanded the second one.
As per media reports, former Hindaun City MLA Rajkumari Jatav of the BJP claimed, “Since elections are due in a few months and the Assembly session is on, the Congress government wanted to suppress the case. If we hadn’t raised the issue, the administration would have settled the case with the family and the last rites would have been conducted too.”
On Friday afternoon, members of the BJP, Congress, BSP and AAP crowded the hospital where the girl’s body was kept.
