Gujarat: SIT Says No Rape, No Murder in Modasa Dalit Rape Case

A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of CID (crime) that was constituted to investigate the alleged gang rape and murder of a 19-year-old Dalit girl who was found hanging from a tree at Modasa in Gujarat’s Aravalli district on January 5, concluded that she was neither raped nor murdered. 

The SIT report, though incomplete, said that the victim was romantically involved with prime accused Bimal Bharwad. It said that she had hung herself from a tree at Sayra village in Modasa in the intervening night of January 4 and 5 after Bharwad refused to commit to a stable relationship. 

In a press conference held in Ahmedabad and addressed by DIG Gautam Parmar and SP Virendra Singh, the SIT gave a sequence of events from December 30. They said that the victim, her elder sister, prime accused Bimal Bharwad and three other accused went to Asian Green Hotel and stayed the night. 

Gautam Parmar who is leading the SIT said, “The victim and her sister came in touch with accused Bimal Bharwad on December 14 or December 15 last year and met him for the first time on December 17.” According to their investigation, Bharwad and the victim had engaged in a physical relationship in the next few days and met at the victim’s house and at various guest houses. Parmar said that the victim wanted Bharwad to commit to a stable relationship but Bharwad, being already married, came under pressure to maintain his distance. He then supposedly planned to get her involved with his cousin Akash so that he could blame her of infidelity and end the relationship. “However, this did not work and the girl (victim) threatened to expose him,” Parmar added.  

“On January 1, the victim called Bharwad and asked to meet her. Bharwad revealed this to the victim’s sister who advised him against meeting her. Nonetheless, Bharwad decided to meet the victim as she had threatened to expose him lest they met. So Bharwad reached her village, picked her up and drove to Modasa town where they fought for two hours. When the victim refused to get down from Bharwad’s car, he called her sister. However, the victim did not relent even after her sister arrived so her sister snatched her phone and smashed it so that she couldn’t try to reach Bharwad’s wife. Following which victim got down from the car to check her phone and taking the opportunity, Bharwad fled,” added Parmar. 

Aggrieved, the victim took an autorickshaw and reached Sayra, her village, as per the SIT report. 

The SIT further added that during the investigation, the post mortem report, the FSL report (Forensic Science Laboratory), call details (40 calls from the victim to Bharwad and 67 messages asking him to marry her), statements of seven witnesses under CrPC 164 are among evidences collated and that are to be admitted in court. 

Reconstruction of Crime Scene as claimed by SIT

The SIT has claimed that a reconstruction of the crime scene successfully concluded that it was a case of suicide and not murder. 

Backing up the claim, DIG Parmar said, “It is very easy to climb a tree which was demonstrated and hence reconstructed as the crime scene by a female constable.” 

“Secondly, other than injuries on the neck caused by the dupatta used for hanging, no other injury was found on victim’s body. The injuries found on victim’s body in the post mortem are said to have caused by bark and branches of the tree. No semen or saliva was found on victim’s body to prove rape, gang rape or unnatural sex (sodomy). Moreover, call records show that the victim had called Bimal Bharwad herself so kidnapping has been ruled out,” added Parmar. 

On being asked about post mortem finding of fluids from vagina and rectal prolapse, Parmar said that had occurred due to decomposition of the body. 

Hole in the SIT report 

The SIT has admitted that the police is still trying to find out what transpired between January 1, when the victim boarded an autorickshaw to reach Sayra, as claimed by SIT, and January 5, when her body was found hanging by a tree in the outskirts of the village. 

According to the SIT report, the victim’s movement on January 1 has been traced from her village Sayra to Modasa and back to Sayra in an autorickshaw on the same day. However, the trace went cold after January 1 after which she went missing, as claimed by the family in the FIR. 

The family had also accused Police Inspector N.K. Rabari of refusing to register a missing person complaint and file a case of illegal detention of the victim on January 2, a day after she went missing. 

Noticeably, even as SIT probing the case has termed it a suicide, a parallel investigation is being conducted on Rabari for the alleged negligence. 

Rabari was suspended by the DGP, Gujarat, after allegations surfaced against him and the ADGP of SC/ST cell had initiated an inquiry against him. 

The SIT report also doesn’t explain why the victim took four days to commit suicide or the reason for the injuries indicated as ante-mortem in the post mortem report. The post mortem report states, “One ligature mark is in form of dark reddish brown like abrasion on front, right and back of neck. One ligature mark on the thyroid cartilage, one reddish brown irregular shape abrasion found on upper part of left chest and abrasion marks on shoulder and thumb are all ante-mortem in nature.”

The Accused

Prime accused Bimal Bharwad has been booked under various sections of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 and under IPC Section 306 for abetment to suicide, Section 201 for destruction of evidence and under Section 504 for insulting the victim with obscenity over phone calls.

There was no role found of the other three accused Satish, Jigar Parmar and Dharshan Bharwad. Bharwad is to undergo a Narco test as per court’s order.