Rape case of differently-abled: No DNA report in three months, 14-yr-old victim awaits justice

Three months after a 14-year-old differently-abled rape victim delivered a premature baby girl, who died a month later, the Jalandhar rural police are still awaiting the DNA test report to provide justice to the victim.

The police had sent the baby’s sample for DNA examination to the State Chemical Examiner Laboratory in Kharar on August 10, the lone facility in the state for viscera sample testing.

Sources said, “The police department wrote to the state laboratory several times for the report, to get a proof against the accused and start a legal trial against him in the district court.”The accused Shiv Paswan,40, arrested by the Nakodar police, is lodged in the Kapurthala jail.

Nakodar deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Mukesh Kumar said, “We have requested the health officials to provide the report as it is delaying the case.” “If the report is not submitted within a week, a police team will collect the report personally,” he said.

As per the police, the girl was raped by Paswan, a labour by profession, when her parents had gone to work. The father took the girl to a doctor after the victim’s married sister, who had come to meet her parents, noticed her bulged abdomen.

During her examination on April 26 this year, it was confirmed that she was over five-month pregnant. The father complained to the police, who identified the accused with the help of experts.

The accused, who used to live in an adjoining house, was arrested the next day based on the girl’s statement. A case under Sections 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and 3, 4 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, was registered.

Auxiliary nurse midwife (ANM) Paramjeet Kaur, is looking after the minor girl since the crime.