Chhattisgarh cops exhume girl's body
Over two months after a teenage girl committed suicide following her alleged rape by five persons in Kondagaon district of Chhattisgarh, police on Wednesday exhumed her body buried by her family on the outskirts of their village, a senior official said. Police said that according to the victim's family, the incident of rape had occurred in July. Police claimed that the incident was not reported to them at that time and it came to light on Wednesday when some local media published it.
The victim's uncle, however, claimed that he had informed the police about it, but no action was taken. Police have now detained three persons and registered a case of gang-rape, the official said.
The government has formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the incident, an official statement said on Wednesday.
Inspector-General of Police (Bastar range) Sundarraj P said that after receiving information that a couple of months back a girl had committed suicide in a
village under Dhanora police station area, after being sexually assaulted, Kondagaon Superintendent of Police (SP) and other officials rushed there on Wednesday.
"As per the statement of her family members, on July 19, the girl, who was aged around 17, had gone to attend a wedding along with them in nearby Kanagaon village. On the same night at around 11 pm, two boys from Kanagaon allegedly dragged her to a nearby forest, where she was sexually assaulted by five others," he said.
The next morning, the victim returned home without informing anyone and committed suicide by hanging herself, he said.
"Unaware of the incident of sexual assault, the family members performed the last rites and buried the deceased girl on the outskirts of their village," he said.
"Her body was exhumed from the grave for the post-mortem in presence of the police team and tehsildar on Wednesday. A case of gang-rape was registered and three accused have been detained," he said.
Meanwhile, the uncle of the victim told reporters that after the girl's suicide, two boys from the locality had told him that his niece was sexually assaulted by some men in Kanagaon.
Just two days after that, Dhanora station house officer (SHO) had called him to the police station and asked why he did not report the matter to police, he claimed.
He alleged that the SHO had also assured to lodge a case, but no further action was taken.
However, the IG said that after her suicide, a police team had gone to the village and asked her family members to report the matter if they get any clue about the reason of her extreme step.
"We learnt that the family was later told about the rape incident by one of the friends of the victim, but they did not approach the police," he claimed.
"Recently, the girl's father also attempted suicide by consuming poison, but he was saved after he got timely medical treatment. The exact reason behind his suicide attempt was not known," Sundarraj said.
Meanwhile, the opposition BJP strongly condemned the incident and accused the ruling Congress of failing to protect women in the state.
"Daughters in Chhattisgarh are not safe right from Balrampur to Bastar. What kind of new Chhattisgarh is this government planning to create? This insensitive government does not have consoling words to speak on such horror happening with daughters of the state," Leader of Opposition Dhamarlal Kaushik said in a tweet in Hindi.
He demanded immediate arrest of the accused in the case.
(With PTI inputs)
