Two years after the death of a minor girl in Rajasthan’s Jhalawar, police have detained three suspects on charges of kidnapping, rape and abetment to suicide after a forensic report that was released this month indicated that the victim was sexually assaulted.
The report came two years after forensic samples were sent to the state Forensic Science Laboratory in Jaipur.
On October 29, 2023, the girl’s father lodged a complaint at Sadar police station in Jhalawar, stating that his daughter had gone to work in the fields near their village while the family was attending a community programme.
When they returned in the evening, she was found missing.
Police registered a case of kidnapping and began an investigation. Her body was found in a well the next day, with the police suspecting that she had died by suicide.
A postmortem conducted confirmed drowning as the cause of death, although forensic samples were collected and sent to the state Forensic Science Laboratory in Jaipur.
Three people – a fellow village resident identified as Rohit Kumar and two more people who were minors – had been identified as prime suspects.
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On August 20 – nearly two years after samples were sent — the FSL’s report confirmed the presence of the suspects’ DNAs in the samples, leaving the medical board to conclude that the victim was raped.
“We had identified three accused earlier but FSL confirmation was needed. Last week, I followed up with the FSL lab in Jaipur and found that the report had confirmed the suspects’ DNAs,” Jhalawar SP Amit Kumar Budaniya told The Indian Express.
The suspects have now been booked under kidnapping, gang rape and abetment to suicide, with the police also invoking the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. The SIT has arrested Rohit Kumar and detained the two minors.
