C'garh: Police exhume girl's body months after her 'gangrape'

Next morning, the victim returned home without informing anyone and committed suicide by hanging herself, the official said. "Unaware of the incident of sexual assault, the family members performed the last rites and buried the body on the outskirts of their village," he said.

Over two months after a teenaged girl committed suicide following her alleged rape by five men in Chhattisgarh's Kondagaon district, police have exhumed her body as part of probe into the incident, an official said. According to the victim's family, she was allegedly raped on July 19 and ended her life the next day. The body was buried by her family members on the outskirts of their village, located around 250 km from here, the official said.

The police claimed the incident was not reported to them at that time and it came to light on Wednesday when some local media published it. The victim's uncle, however, claimed he had informed the police about it, but no action was taken.

The police have now detained three persons and registered a case of gang-rape, the official said. The government has formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) for a probe into the incident, an official statement said on Wednesday.

Talking to PTI, Inspector General of Police (Bastar range) Sundarraj P said after getting information about the incident in a village under Dhanora police station limits, Kondagaon Superintendent of Police and other officials rushed there on Wednesday. As per the statement of her family members, on July 19, the girl, who was aged around 17, went to attend a wedding along with them in nearby Kanagaon village, he said.

"On the same night at around 11 pm, two boys from Kanagaon allegedly dragged her to a nearby forest, where she was sexually assaulted by five others," he said. Next morning, the victim returned home without informing anyone and committed suicide by hanging herself, the official said.

"Unaware of the incident of sexual assault, the family members performed the last rites and buried the body on the outskirts of their village," he said. "The body was exhumed from the grave for post-mortem in the presence of a police team and tehsildar on Wednesday. A case of gang-rape was registered and three accused have been detained," he said.

Meanwhile, the girl's uncle told reporters that after the girl committed suicide, two boys from the locality had told him that his niece was sexually assaulted by some men in Kanagaon. Just two days after that, Dhanora station house officer (SHO) had called him to the police station and asked why he did not report the matter to police, he claimed.

He alleged that the SHO had also assured to lodge a case, but no further action was taken. However, the IG said after the girl's suicide, a police team had gone to the village and asked her family members to report the matter if they get any clue about the reason for her extreme step.

"We learnt that the family was later told about the rape incident by one of the friends of the victim, but they did not approach the police," he claimed. Recently, the girl's father also attempted suicide by consuming poison, but he was saved after he got timely medical treatment. The exact reason behind his suicide attempt was not known, the official said.

Meanwhile, the opposition BJP strongly condemned the incident and accused the ruling Congress of failing to protect women in the state. "Daughters in Chhattisgarh are not safe right from Balrampur to Bastar. What kind of new Chhattisgarh is this government planning to create?" Leader of Opposition Dharamlal Kaushik said in a tweet in Hindi.

"This insensitive government does not have consoling words to speak on such horror happening with daughters of the state," he added, while demanding immediate arrest of the accused in the case..

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)