Hathras Case: Forensic Report That Denied Rape Contains No Value, Say Medical Experts

A contentious forensic test report cited by the Uttar Pradesh police to deny alleged gang rape of the Hathras victim has no medical or legal value, a media report said quoting a top medical officer of the state.

“The samples were collected 11 days after the woman was allegedly raped, while government guidelines strictly say forensic evidence can only be found up to 96 hours after the incident. This report can’t confirm rape in this incident,” the Indian Express reported quoting Dr Azeem Malik, chief medical officer of Aligarh Muslim University’s Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College.

The 19-year-old Dalit woman was admitted to the medical college for two weeks after she was allegedly gang-raped by four upper caste men on September 14. The woman—who died at Delhi’s Safdurjang Hospital on September 29—had suffered multiple injuries, including a broken spine, during the alleged gang rape.

The IE report said that the “woman’s post-mortem report from Safdarjung Hospital had also stated that her hymen showed multiple old healed tears, and that the anal orifice showed old healed tear.”

The gruesome incident has sparked outrage across the country and turned into a political slugfest between the BJP-led government and opposition parties. The UP government last week recommended a CBI probe into the incident.

The report also quoted Dr Hamza Malik, the president of the Resident Doctors’ Association at Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, as saying that the FSL report was “unreliable”.

“How will the FSL team find evidence of rape 11 days later? Sperm doesn’t survive after 2-3 days. They took samples from hair, clothes, nail bed and vaginal-anal orifice; the samples may not show presence of semen because of urination, defecation and menstruation,” Malik was quoted as saying.

Last week, the Uttar Pradesh additional director general of police (law and order) Prashant Kumar had cited the FSL report to deny sexual assault and claimed she died due to a neck injury.

In her statement recorded by a magistrate, the victim had named four men—Sandeep, Ramu, Luv Kush, Ravi—as her assailants. They have since been arrested.