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Surat police botched up while investigating the 11-year-old girl rape case

Basic procedures of the investigation were not followed by police, the crime scene was contaminated, while FSL department was not informed about the case

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From the day the body of the girl was found, Surat police have shown negligence in investigating the case. The girl was found dead with multiple injuries, near Jiaav-Budiya road in Pandesara on April 6.

Basic procedures comprising cordoning off the crime scene, informing the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) department to collect evidence samples, were not followed. Apart from that, the case files were not handed over to the FSL department 10 days after the incident.

When the body of the girl was discovered by a local, he informed the Surat police. Soon after, the Surat Police reached the spot and started the investigation.

The police lodged a case of accidental death and sent the body for postmortem. ""The police did not cordon off the crime scene for 11 hours, after which evidence was collected from the spot by them, the FSL department was not informed about the incident, who never reached the spot to collect the samples or evidence," a source told DNA.

Later, when the medical reports came in, it was revealed that there were 86 injuries on her body, including some at her private parts and she was strangulated to death. After which, the police lodged an FIR under Sections 302 (murder), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) and 376 (rape) of the IPC and under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act against unidentified persons in the matter.

The police then tried to identify the girl for 10 days, by searching and contacting locals in the nearby area, but failed to get any leads. Finally, they reached out to the public for help, by posting the photo of the girl on social media to get any information regarding her. While the search was going on, the FSL department didn't have any clue about the case, as the police didn't hand over the case files and samples to the FSL till 5.30pm on Monday (April 16), 10 days from the date of the incident.

As per a senior police officer: "When a body is found, as per basic investigation procedure, the FSL department is informed by the police and they collect evidence from the crime scene. Apart from that, the crime scene should be cordoned off by the police so that the evidence doesn't get contaminated.

The body is taken for postmortem by police to confirm the reason behind the death. If the reason turns out to be murder, in the medical report, the samples should be handed over to the FSL department."

However, Satish Sharma, Police Commissioner of Surat, told the newspaper that the case files and samples were sent to the FSL on the day of the incident itself. When asked that the FSL department had claimed that they had received the case files on Monday (April 16) at around 5.30pm, Sharma said: "You should talk to officials." "He then hung up.

The ACP crime branch officer RR Sarvaiya said that the FSL team was present at the spot on the day of the incident and had collected samples from the spot.

THE HORROR

  • The girl was found dead with as many as 86 injuries on her body on April 6
     
  • After finding the body, the cops lodged a case of accidental death
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