Shimla, July 17: The casual approach of the police in the rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl in Kotkhai at the initial stage and the glaring missing links may have serious implications for investigations. People fear that if investigations are not supplemented by strong evidence, the accused may escape punishment.
The police, who claimed to have made major breakthrough with the arrest of six persons, have not come out with the details of the investigation and the locals are not convinced by their version, particularly with regard to the spot of crime and from where the body was recovered.
If the spot was so close to localities, then why the people could not know about the crime and how it was possible that the body remained untouched by animals at the same place for two days and what scientific evidence was collected by the police to substantiate the claim, resident Narinder said. A Class XI girl went missing while returning home from school on July 4.
It was two days later that her body was recovered from a forest. As per villagers, who are protesting against the police investigations, the crime took place somewhere else and the body was thrown in the forest afterwards. How come there is no substantial evidence on the spot of crime, they say.
However, experts say that it appears from the photographs that the spot of the crime and the place of recovery of the body are not the same and if there are lapses in the collection of evidence, as was done in the case of Yug which was solved after two years, the fate of this case could be the same.
Highly placed sources in the police said the photographs of the bites on the body were also not clear.The police are tight lipped on whether the confessional statements of the accused were verified by taking them to the spot or not.
The state government has decided to refer the case to the CBI due to mounting pressure and public outcry as the public was not satisfied with the investigation. Will the CBI be able to solve the case or will it also be buried like the Harsh Baljees murder case.The situation is so tense in Kotkhai that children from the village of the victim are scared of going to school as there are no arrangement of safety and security of the children.
Source Tribune India
