BETTIAH/ PATNA: Efforts were on to nab the accused named by an 18-year-old former inmate of a Muzaffarpur shelter home who has alleged that she was gangraped inside a moving vehicle, the Bihar police said on Monday and noted it was "not ruling out anything" after a medical examination showed "no external or internal injury" to her.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) issued a notice to the Director-General of Police (DGP) of Bihar, seeking a detailed report in four weeks in the matter while the National Commission for Women said it has formed a committee headed by chairperson Rekha Sharma which would travel to the state on September 19-20 to meet the victim.
The woman was admitted to a government medical college on Saturday evening and a medical examination was conducted by a team of doctors on Sunday.
Superintendent of Police, Bettiah, Jayantkant, said that injuries invariably found on the person of a victim of coerced sexual intercourse were absent in the medical tests reports of the complainant, who had alleged that she was sexually assaulted by four men on Friday night.
"We are not ruling out anything at this point of time, though. The girl has named all the accused in her FIR who were, admittedly, known to her since before. We are on the lookout for the accused persons as we need to examine as to whether any type of deception was involved," the SP told PTI over phone.
Asked about an audio clip that has surfaced in social media with the claim that it has voices of the four accused, besides the person driving the vehicle, while the girl was sexually assaulted close to her house, the SP said it sheds no fresh light on the case.
"The identities of the accused are not a secret. All of them have been named by her. We are concentrating on tracing and catching hold of them and to subject them to a thorough investigation", he said.
The complainant was lodged at the state-funded shelter home at Muzaffarpur which found itself in the eye of a storm after report of a social audit conducted by Mumbai-based Tata Institute of Social Sciences flagged sexual abuse of the minor inmates.
After the shelter home was shut down in May, the woman then a minor was put up at a government-aided facility in Mokama, falling under Patna district.
She was reunited with her family in Bettiah in July last year and was recently married, residents of the locality in which she lives, say.
The NCW issued a notice to the Bihar DGP, asking him to treat this case on priority and hold speedy investigation.
"She is already a victim, rather than helping her out, she has to go through this. We will give her all help that she needs or asks for. We will have to ensure her safety as well," its chief Rekha Sharma said.
The NCW team will meet the victim, the police chief and possibly Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar during its visit, she said.
The NHRC said it has issued notices to the chief secretary and the DGP, seeking a detailed report in four weeks, along with the status of the FIR registered by the police.
It has also directed the state authorities to provide proper counselling and medical assistance to the rape survivor in order to help her overcome the trauma and lead a normal life, a statement issued by the rights body said.