ON September 14, 2020, in a village of Hathras, UP, a 19-year-old woman was abducted and gang-raped by four persons. She was further subjected to brutal torture and died in hospital. However in highly suspicious circumstances, her body was cremated by police officials in the middle of the night without seeking the consent of her family. This raised a storm of protest and also created doubts over the functioning of UP police officials, on whose behest the decision was taken to cremate the body without conducting any medical examination and forensic examination and other procedures as mandated by law.
It brought back memories of another alleged gangrape, 27 years ago, of a 14-year-old girl who later delivered a boy. In the latter case, the mother gave her child for adoption to someone she knew. Her doctor had refused to terminate her pregnancy at such a minor age as it was not viable to do so. The victim has now filed a plea on behalf of her son in court seeking permission to conduct a DNA test of the two accused persons to determine the biological father of the child. The two accused persons have been apprehended under Section 376D of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860.
Unfortunately, the woman who was sexually assaulted at such a young age had concealed this fact from the police and did not report to the concerned police department due to the social stigma still prevalent in Indian society. The statement made by the circle officer, Shahjahanpur city, says a case has been registered against two brothers who are accused and co-accused. The legal questions raised herein needs to be pondered over:
Can an FIR be registered after 27 years against two or more persons allegedly involved in the gangrape after disclosing the information of commission of offence to the police, held to be maintainable, and can it have any leg to stand on?
This story is from the March 29, 2021 edition of India Legal.
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This story is from the March 29, 2021 edition of India Legal.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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