Forensic report reveals no foul play in Dalit girl’s death in M.P.’s Sagar, says police
The girl, a resident of Sagar, passed away on May 26 after she reportedly fell from the ambulance while taking home the body of her uncle, who died after he was allegedly thrashed on May 25 by some men over a dispute
Months after a 23-year-old Dalit girl, who was a victim of sexual harassment, died after allegedly falling from an ambulance in Madhya Pradesh’s Sagar district, the police has claimed that its investigation has found no foul play in her death.
Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP), Sagar, Sanjeev Uikey told The Hindu on Friday that a forensic investigation of the girl’s mobile phone has revealed that the incident in which she died did not involve any criminal conspiracy.
The girl, a resident of Sagar’s Khurai, had passed away on May 26 after she reportedly fell from the ambulance while taking home the body of her uncle, who died after he was allegedly thrashed on May 25 by some men over a dispute.
Her 18-year-old younger brother was also beaten to death in August, 2023, by some men after he did not agree to “settle” a 2019 case of harassment filed against them by his sister. The uncle was a witness in her brother’s murder case.
“While travelling in the ambulance, she was talking on the phone. So, we had taken the phone in our custody and sent it for forensic investigation for call recordings and any other evidence,” Mr. Uikey said.
He said that no call recordings or evidence were found in her phone that could ascertain a criminal conspiracy was involved in her death.
Mr. Uikey said that the police has included the forensic report into its investigation and submitted it to the local Sub-Divisional Magistrate.
Another police officer, requesting anonymity, said that with the FSL examination of the victim’s phone, the investigating team wanted to find out if someone “provoked or threatened her to jump from the ambulance or if she shared anything with the people she was talking to”.
“No such clue was found through her phone,” the officer said, adding that the investigation into her death is now complete unless some new lead emerges.
Meanwhile, the victim’s family refused to accept the findings of the police investigation. “The police and administration are working under pressure from some local politicians and want to suppress the matter,” the girl’s 21-year-old brother said, speaking to The Hindu.
He said that the police did not even inform the family about the forensic report and that they only found out through some journalists.
“All I know is that my sister who was fighting all the cases cannot kill herself,” he said, alleging that his family is “being pressurised” by some politicians and officials to compromise in the matter.
The family’s lawyer Aniket Deepanker said that they are yet to receive the FSL report. “Once we get the report officially, we will approach the Madhya Pradesh High Court against it,” he said.
Mr. Deepanker also said that the police investigation “is missing an important event” in the girl’s death.
“In the ambulance along with the girl, her deceased uncle’s parents and a police personnel were also travelling, taking the uncle’s body home. According to the uncle’s parents, the policeman forced the girl and the parents to drink something from a bottle,” he said.
“While the girl refused to drink it, her uncle’s parents drank it and fell unconscious. Whatever happened unfolded after that and we do not think that she took her own life,” Mr. Deepanker said.
At least 13 people were arrested in connection with the death of the girl’s brother, while six were arrested for allegedly murdering the uncle.
The matter had garnered attention of several top politicians after the girl’s death during the Lok Sabha elections with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, now the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, speaking to the victim’s family over the phone, and State Chief Minister Mohan Yadav visiting them in Sagar.
Mr. Gandhi had alleged the BJP government was trying to shield the accused.
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Madhya Pradesh
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dalits
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sexual assault & rape