In Guj, Dalit Woman ‘Killed, Gangraped,’ Found Hanging From Tree

19-year-old Dalit woman was reportedly kidnapped, gangraped and murdered.

(Photo: Kamran Akhter/The Quint) 

Another Nirbhaya-like case has emerged in north Gujarat where a 19-year-old Dalit woman was reportedly kidnapped, gangraped and murdered before her body was found hanging from a tree, to suggest suicide, reported The Hindu.

After the police lodged a case of kidnapping, gangrape and murder against four persons, a panel of doctors at the Ahmedabad civil hospital on Wednesday, 8 January, conducted the postmortem.

The four had allegedly kidnapped the victim, gangraped her before murdering but did not stop at that. After killing her, they hanged the body from the tree to make it look like suicide.

The victim had gone missing on 31 December, following which her family approached the police on 3 January to lodge an FIR but the local police refused.

The local police inspector NL Rabri told the family that the girl was safe and had eloped with a boy of the same community and both had got married so no case was required to be lodged.

Days later, on 5 January, her body was found hanging from the tree. The family members had refused to accept the body, claiming that it was a murder and not a suicide.

The police lodged the FIR on Tuesday — against Bimal Bharvad, Darshan Bharvad, Satish Bharvad and Jigar in the case.

It was only after the registration of the FIR, the family agreed to claim the body, which was sent for postmortem at the Ahmedabad civil hospital.

The case was registered under various provisions and sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act after thousands of Dalits protested in front of the local police station.

(With inputs from The Hindu)