Forensic study says girls hanged in India were not raped

Analysts report no male contact in case that made world headlines.

India:  A crucial forensic analysis report in the alleged Badaun rape-murder case has found no male DNA on the clothes and personal effects of the teen cousins.

The analysis also found no female DNA on samples taken from the clothes and bodies of the male suspects, virtually ruling out sexual assault, or even close physical contact between the teens and the men alleged to have raped and killed them.

The Hyderabad-based Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD), which examined 38 exhibits for traces of DNA, submitted its report to the CBI last week.

The report has been given to the expert medical panel that will now have to reach a conclusion on the nature of the deaths of the girls, who were found hanging from a mango tree in Katra Sadatganj village in Usait, Badaun, at dawn on May 28.

The girls were buried by the Ganga at a spot which went under water amid heavy rain last month, putting paid to the CBI’s plans to exhume the bodies. The accused — brothers Pappu Yadav, Awadesh Yadav and Urvesh Yadav, and two police constables, Chhatrapal Yadav and Sarvesh Yadav — have been in custody for almost three months, and may have to be freed if the CBI fails to chargesheet them next week.

The CDFD report, which has been accessed by The Indian Express, states that DNA isolation and profiling of the 38 exhibits “did not yield any male DNA profiling”, and also “did not yield any female DNA profile”.

Among the exhibits that were analysed for traces of DNA of the accused were items of clothing worn by the two victims — salwars, kurtas, dupattas and undergarments — their nose pins and rings, and a plastic band, a metal band, and sacred thread that they wore on their wrists.

Trousers and shirts worn by the accused were profiled; as were blood samples and penile and vaginal swabs.

Commenting on the import of the CDFD report, CBI investigators told The Indian Express that while the absence of DNA on any of the exhibits did rule out sexual assault or violent physical contact, it did not entirely rule out “casual contact”.

The next hearing in the case is on August 25.

Source: Financial Express