Hathras gang rape victim had ‘healed tears’ in private parts, finds autopsy

Report doesn’t mention rape; rules death due to cervical spine injury caused by trauma.
Congress workers protest near toll gate on DND flyover on Thursday ahead of the arrival of Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi during their attempted visit to Hathras. (Photo | Parveen Negi, EPS)
Congress workers protest near toll gate on DND flyover on Thursday ahead of the arrival of Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi during their attempted visit to Hathras. (Photo | Parveen Negi, EPS)

NEW DELHI:  The 20-year-old girl from Hathras, who died in Delhi on Tuesday after allegedly being gangraped two weeks ago, had multiple old healed tears of hymen along with blood clot, according to her autopsy report. However, it did not mention the cause of death as rape.

As per the report, compiled by the forensic medical team of Safdarjung Hospital, the cause of death was “injury to the cervical spine (neck) produced by indirect blunt trauma and its resultant sequelae”.

The report added that “the ligature mark over the neck is consistent with attempted strangulation”, however, it “did not contribute to death”. The girl was assaulted and allegedly raped on September 14 and breathed her last at Safdarjung Hospital on September 29. She was admitted to Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College and Hospital in Aligarh after a week of the alleged incident in fragile condition.

According to reports, her legs were paralysed with severe spinal cord injury and her neck was damaged as she was dragged by the accused using her dupatta to a field near which she had been gathering cattle fodder. She also has a deep cut on her tongue which she had bitten when strangulated. The post mortem report, accessed by this newspaper, mentions the age of the victim as 22. The report said that she died at 6.55 am on Tuesday.

The report also stated that the girl’s anal orifice showed an old healed tear over the 11’o clock position. According to a city-based gynaecologist, who did not wish to be named, that hymen of a woman can have multiple tears if sexual intercourse is done multiple times. “It is showing old because the intercourse may have happened 10-15 days ago.

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The reason for blood clot is not clearly mentioned, but it may be because of internal injury and bleeding. If the incident had happened about two-three weeks ago, it is likely that it has become a clot and therefore difficult to understand its reason,” the expert said.

The Uttar Pradesh Police has claimed that the autopsy and forensic report proved that she was not raped. “The post mortem report says the victim died due to her neck injury. FSL (Forensic Science Laboratory) report hasn’t found sperm in samples, making it clear that some people twisted the matter to stir caste-based tension,” Prashant Kumar, ADG (Law and Order) of UP Police, said on Thursday.

Student bodies holds protest at DU’s north campus

Members of various students organisations held a protest at Delhi University’s north campus against the Hathras gang-rape and murder incident and demanded justice for the 19-year-old victim. A senior police official said 20-22 protestors were detained and later released. A large number of activists were wrongfully detained while protesting and taken to Maurice Nagar Police Station, they alleged. 

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