CBI charge sheet alleges UP Police's 'lapses' in Hathras case

New Delhi/Hathras (Uttar Pradesh): The Central Bureau of Investigation raised questions on police working in controversial Hathras gang rape and murder case.

The police had ignored the victim's allegations of sexual assault and had not her medical examination done on time, CBI reportedly alleged in its charge sheet.

The 19-page charge sheet ,filed on December 18 in Hathras court, alleged the police did not take down the woman's oral statement at the Chandpa police station when she went there on September 14 to report the crime.

Police twice ignored her allegations of sexual assault, causing to the loss of forensic evidence, the agency said.

"Her statement was written five days later and she was medically examined for sexual assault only on September 22 -- eight days after the alleged crime," the charge sheet claimed.

The victim used the word 'zabardasti' (use of force) at the Chandpa police station but it was ignored, and neither any medical examination got conducted nor rape law invoked, the CBI said.

It said that the 19-year old victim was referred to Aligarh as her condition was serious.

The CBI said that on September 19, the victim in her police statement used the word 'chedkhani' (molestation)... at that time only Section 354 of the IPC was added but again neither the police requested for or referred her for medical examination in the light of sexual assault."

"Only on September 22, after the victim explicitly used the word 'balatkaar' (rape) against the four accused, was her medical examination for sexual assault carried out by medical officials."

While taking her statement in writing for the first time, the police did not add the names of two other co-accused, though the same were mentioned, the CBI alleged.

The Dalit woman was allegedly gang-raped by four men in Hathras on September 14. She died on September 29 at Delhi's Safdarjung Hospital.

The police's handling of the case - particularly the late-night cremation of the victim allegedly without the family's approval - led to angry protests across the country.

The officials, however, maintained the cremation had been done "as per the wishes of the family".

The CBI had a special team constituted to probe the case after its Ghaziabad unit was given the nod. The team recorded the statements of family members of the victim.

The CBI officials, who had camped in Hathras after taking over the case on October 11, had also met the doctors at the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College and Hospital, where the victim was treated after the alleged gang rape on September 14.

The Yogi Adityanath government had faced criticism for the handling of the case.

IANS report with edits