The report is of preliminary investigation and rape has been confirmed by the Forensic Laboratory
Timing of the leak after charges filed under POSCO suspicious
Srinagar: The Jammu Kashmir High Court has taken serious note of leaking of the medical examination report of a three year old rape victim to the public.
The court has issued notice to Inspector General Police and Medical Superintendent SKIMS in this regard.
The report which went viral on social media, was submitted to the investigation officer of police, by the authorities in SKIMS medical college, which stated that there were no marks of injury on any part of the body including the private parts, and ruled out rape.
The report however is of preliminary investigation and rape has been confirmed by the Forensic Laboratory, and the timing of this old report being leaked to the public as the charges have been filed, is suspicious.
The SKIMS report establishes presence of ‘faint blood stains’ which ‘could not be scrapped and sent for examination’
It is pertinent to mention that a fake birth certificate was also issued in favour of the accused by a school principal, claiming that the accused was a minor.
A medical examination of the accused was also conducted which revealed he was not a minor following which police had also summoned the Principal of the school who issued the fake certificate.
The Forensic Sciences Laboratory (FSL) Srinagar also examined the scientific evidence collected by the Jammu and Kashmir Police. Police has said that the report has ‘substantiated rape’ .
A police spokesman said a written complaint was received by police station Sumbal from a person, stating that her niece (name withheld) was taken, by a person namely Tahir Ahmad Mir of Tirgam, inside the Government Middle School where he sexually assaulted her.
The medical examination of the victim was conducted and the material evidence was collected from the spot and sent to Forensic Sciences Laboratory (FSL) Srinagar.
The scientific evidence and oral testimonies have substantiated the charges levelled against the accused and the chargesheet was filed in special court of District and session judge Bandipora under section 5(m) and 06 of POCSO besides RPC sections of 363 (kidnapping) 342(wrongful confinement), 376 (rape).
After initial reports of the incident, students clashed with police, demanding swift action in the case. Authorities in Jammu and Kashmir had to shut down most educational institutions in the valley.
Last week, the police had said that the allegations of rape in the case have been proven and that a chargesheet will be filed soon.
The accused has now been booked under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) section 3 and 5 and 376 A, B and 342 RPC.
The students of different educational institutions demanded justice to the victim and stern punishment to the accused.
Students of Amar Singh (AS) College, Srinagar, carrying placards and banners, staged protests in the college campus. They demanded death penalty to the accused.
The case also had a potential to take a sectarian turn following which a Shia-Sunni coordination committee of religious scholars appealed to the people to maintain calm and end protests as “police had nabbed the culprit”.
The Jammu and Kashmir State Legal Services Authority earlier this week released Rs 1 lakh as an interim relief to the minor rape victim in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district. The amount was released under J&K Victim Compensation Scheme, 2013, an official spokesperson said.
The court also directed the Director Information Department of J&K to place before it the report regarding the measures taken in terms of Section 44 of J&K POCSO.
