Death of woman of protected Raji tribe raises concern in Uttarakhand
The police, however, denied receiving a complaint about the rape and murder of the 35-year-old woman.
The college girl, who committed suicide to mark her protest against alleged atrocities by the local councillor, was raped and had become pregnant, the post-mortem report tabled by the police before the court revealed today.
Tuhina Khatun (17), had committed suicide on the day the local councillor Bashir Ahmed Sheikh alias Badsha was re-elected on 2 March. Badsha and his aides had painted a graffiti depicting three sisters hanging from a tree branch in front of the entrance of their house. The post-mortem report suggested that the private organs of the victim bore multiple marks of injuries.
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The police meanwhile handed over several pieces of evidence to the Cyber Forensic & Digital Evidence Examiner’s Laboratory of the CID. The councillor had hired an art college student to sketch on the poster. The sisters had protested Badsha’s re-nomination from Ward 27 on the plea that Badsha and his henchmen allegedly were terrorizing the residents, extorting money and depriving the poor families. They, instead, had suggested the name of Muktar Mia, a lottery agent. The police suspect this invited Badsha to take revenge.
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Kuheli, Tuhina’s sister had lodged an FIR against Badsha and 13 others, bringing charges of intimidation, physical assault and outraging modesty. Six persons were arrested but the main accused, Badsha is still at large. He however managed to take oath as a councillor ‘secretly’ at the local SDM’s chamber, which created a controversy. Kuheli alleged that the police had given Badsha a safe passage.
Kuheli’s lawyer yesterday filed a fresh petition before the Chief Judicial Magistrate’s court in Burdwan with a plea that Section 6 of the Pocso Act needs to be attached to the case as Tuhina was a minor victim of sexual assault.
The court suspended the hearing till 4 April. Kuheli said, “Badsha’s atrocities caused my sister to commit suicide. Still the police is negligent about his arrest.” Badsha had earlier claimed, “The incident was unfortunate. I’ve promised to cooperate with the police during the investigation.”
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