COURTESY HT NOV 21

High court turns down plea for medical exam by external board
HT Correspondent

letterschd@hindustantimes.com

Chandigarh : The Punjab and Haryana high court has turned down the plea for getting two cousins, who have levelled allegations of custodial rape by Haryana cops, examined by an external board.

The HC was hearing a plea from a Sonepat woman seeking medical examination of her daughter and niece. The allegations are that one of the girls was gangraped by cops in custody and another sexually assaulted. The duo were booked in an FIR registered on June 30. The FIR was of murder of two cops in which one Amit was accused, who later died and these two girls were arrested on July 3.

The court observed that medical test was conducted twice upon arrest, which specifically mentioned that no visible mark of injury was seen on the bodies and private parts of the girls. Even the report submitted by the magistrate concerned reached the conclusion that the medical evidence with regard to the commission of rape is inconclusive at this stage, the bench said.

“This shows that multiple times, medical examination of the victims were conducted, but there was total silence maintained by them, at every opportune time, to disclose about the occurrence so caused. Considering the very fact of the victims, having been medically examined multiple times, it will not be appropriate to further direct the constitution of a medical board for comprehensive examination of both the victims, more particularly, considering the duration of time having lapsed since then,” the court said, adding that moreover, an SIT led by a woman IPS officer is probing the matter. The court, however, directed the Karnal Central Jail superintendent and Karnal observation home in-charge to take appropriate steps for extending medical treatment to both the girls at PGIMER.

THE ALLEGATIONS

The allegations in the plea were that the girls had gone to meet Amit in Karnal, when two cops in inebriated state misbehaved with them, which led to a fight between cops and Amit, wherein the cops got injured.

When the girls came to know about the murder of cops, they approached the police, but police booked them in the murder case of cops and eliminated Amit, the plea had alleged, adding that the girls were raped by 10-12 cops in custody. It was also alleged that family was not allowed to meet them.

However, the court said that the police record revealed that nearly a dozen times, either family members or some lawyers had met these two girls. In future, family members be allowed to meet them as per rules, the court directed