On Saturday, Delhi Police issued a rejoinder to a Kerala-based media “Madhyamam” for misreporting the death of a 17-year-old girl in Gurmandi in North Campus area of Delhi University.
In a report published on Saturday, E-Madhyamam had claimed that a 17-year-old Dalit girl was allegedly ‘raped to death’ on October 4 in her landlord’s house, where she was working since September 26. The Kerala-based media also compared the incident to the Hathras murder case, where a 19-year-old was allegedly killed by four youth and termed the Delhi incident as a ‘rerun of the Hathras model’.
According to the report, the girl who hailed from Bihar had allegedly faced severe atrocities and the landlord did not let the girl inform her relatives about this. The report also claimed that the family of the victim had allegedly said that the deceased girl was forced to sleep in driver’s room and had tried to inform her parents about the mental and physical abuse she was facing.
Further, the report said that the family members were not allowed to see the deceased girl and about 12 relatives of the girl who had assembled near the spot were taken into the custody.
According to Madhyamam, the police, on the next morning sent the body for post-mortem and later forcefully took the body to cremation. The report said that no FIR has been lodged yet by the police and added that the post-mortem report mentions no rape.
Delhi Police issues rejoinder
The Delhi Police has issued a rejoinder to the E-Madhyama report on the death of 17-year-old dalit girl in Delhi and has categorically dismissed reports suggesting that the girl was raped before her death.
Taking to Twitter, the Delhi Police said that on October 4, they received reports that a girl was found hanging in her residence near Gurmandi area. The Model Town police, PCR and Fire Services reached the spot and found that her room was closed from inside.
Delhi Police’ Rejoinder to the news item published in https://t.co/NVneXCB8Q0 captioned “Hathras model rape, murder and cremation of Dalit girl in Delhi’s Gurmandi”https://t.co/zuxCfD6NCO@CPDelhi @LtGovDelhi @PMOIndia @HMOIndia pic.twitter.com/A07a3mDPSW
— #DilKiPolice Delhi Police (@DelhiPolice) October 17, 2020
The police said that the staff of fire services broke open the door of the room and found that one girl hanging from the ceiling. The deceased was identified as a resident of Rajpura Gut Mandi, Delhi and added that her age was subsequently ascertained 16-17 years by board of doctors.
“The crime scene was inspected by the Crime Team and body was preserved in mortuary for post mortem. There were no injury marks on the body and inquest proceedings u/s 174 Cr.P.C. were initiated,” the Delhi police clarified.
Due to sensitivity of the matter, the post mortem was conducted by a Board of doctors at Safdarjung Hospital on October 8, who ruled that the cause of death as suicidal. No foul play has been found in the incident, the Delhi Police said.
Hathras Case
On 14th September, a 19-year-old woman was strangulated, and later she succumbed to injuries on 29th September. The Hathras case has become the ground for political drama and media propaganda. Congress leaders Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi, Bhim Army Chief Chandrashekhar Azad, TMC leader Derek O’Brien, and several others have visited Hathras to meet the family. The victim had claimed she was gang-raped by the accused, however, it has neither been confirmed or denied by medical reports yet.
Reports have emerged that alleged PFI and Naxal connection to the case to instigate caste violence in the state. Investigation agencies found that a woman was posing as the sister-in-law of the victim and living with the family allegedly to train them what to say in front of the cameras. The state has requested for Supreme Court-monitored CBI inquiry in the case.
