JOIN USLoose ends in rape plaint baffle cops
Initial medical examination report of the law student, who complained she was raped by a gang of eight men on the Jnanabharathi campus on Saturday night, has not been able to establish rape.
Dr O S Siddappa, Dean and Director, Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute, said on Monday the doctor who conducted the medical examination of the victim informed him that there were no traces of any sexual assault on the victim’s body.
“The condition of the victim would have been very bad had there been a gang-rape, but there were no such traces found during the medical examination. However, minor abrasions were found on the victim’s body. Samples have been sent to forensic laboratory for further examination,” Dr Siddappa said. Police officials, however, deny receiving the report.
The girl, a second year student of the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), has claimed that she was with a male friend, when the gang accosted them and raped her.
Police sources say that vaginal swabs of the victim had been sent to forensic lab. The report is expected in a fortnight.
Though police officials refused to speak on record on the issue, they are sceptical about the victim’s claim of multiple rape. The alleged spot of the assault on the girl is dotted with thorny bushes. Police expressed surprise that the girl had sustained no injury. The medical condition of the girl is stable and she has not received any medical treatment after the incident, say the police. The medical report seems to have shared the scepticism of the police. The girl is presently lodged at the law school hostel.
However, senior police officials, citing a Supreme Court directive said that the statement made by the rape victim cannot be overruled, even though the medical report fails to establish it. A senior police officer handling the investigation said the forensic report could, therefore, provide a breakthrough in the case.
All that S N Siddaramappa, DCP (West) would say is: “A special squad with seven senior inspectors and officials has been constituted by the city police commissioner and the case is being taken up very seriously.”
He declined to comment further in the light of the sensitivity of the case. In her complaint, the victim stated that the assailants spoke Kannada and were drunk. The incident took place between 10:30 pm and midnight. The police, who have been closing the campus gates by 9:30 pm since a fortnight, do not rule out the involvement of insiders on the campus—workers or other students on the sprawling 1,024-acre campus that houses both Bangalore University and NLSIU.
The police on Monday questioned some of the workers who worked night shift in the area on Saturday. They have also been questioning some known criminals in the area.
On Monday, the police again questioned Rakesh (name changed), the girl’s male friend with whom she was when the incident took place. The area police summoned him to the police station and questioned him over the sequence of events.
They also took him to the spot and attempted to re-construct the event. However, Rakesh refused to speak to the media.