Teenage boy exonerated from 2021 ‘rape and murder’ case in T.N.

The boy spent three years in an observation home; the police reinvestigated the case and found that the woman died of internal organ failure

The Tamil Nadu police has exonerated a teenage boy, who was arrested in 2021 on charges of raping and murdering a tribal woman in Chengalpattu district, after they found that she had died of internal organ failure. There was not an iota of evidence against the teenager, the police said.

The story begins in October, 2021, when the police apprehended the boy — who was then 15 years old and will turn 18 soon — in connection with the alleged rape and murder of a 52-year-old tribal woman under the Thirukazhukundram station limits. The woman had gone missing from her home a couple of days before the teenager’s arrest. She was later found dead near a rock half a kilometre away from her house.

After interrogating the woman’s family members, the police traced the boy — who was known to the woman — based on the last-seen theory. The last-seen theory is a legal principle in India, which is used to establish guilt in criminal cases: if X is the last person seen with a victim before a crime, and they are unable to provide an explanation for the same, then they are likely responsible for the crime.

Based on a complaint lodged by the woman’s husband, the Thirukazhukundram Police booked the teenager under Sections 376 (rape) and 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). He was apprehended, subjected to the judicial process, and subsequently lodged at an observation home following an order from the Judicial Magistrate.

However, on the orders of Inspector General of Police, North, Asra Garg, police officials of Chengalpattu district recently began reinvestigating the case with a fresh approach.

Mr. Garg told The Hindu, “We got specific information from a public-spirited individual that the role of the boy may be examined and they insisted that he did not appear to be connected with the death of the woman in any manner. Hence, we ordered further investigation into the case; it was conducted afresh.”

The police analysed the postmortem and pathology reports and statements of neighbours and other villagers, and these indicated that the victim died due to internal organ failure and ill-health.

“During the detailed investigation, it was found out that the boy, in fact, had no role in the death of the victim. Hence, a closure report has been filed in the case, and the boy has been exonerated,” Mr. Garg said.

Vidya Reddy from Tulir - Centre for Prevention and Healing of Child Sexual Abuse followed up on the case with the police officials after reading news reports on the incident.

Mr. Vidya said, “When we read about the incident in the newspaper, we had doubts with regard to the boy’s criminal involvement in the case, given the age difference (between him and the woman) and the postmortem, which indicated there was no external injury.”

“The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) Act, 2012, considers anyone below the age of 18 as asexual, and that any sexual activity with anyone below 18 is a crime. The deceased adult victim, had she been alive, would have then been considered an abuser,” she added. If the genders were reversed — for instance, if the case involved a 15 year-old girl and a 50-year-old man — it would have been widely said that the adult rapist deserved his fate, she remarked.

She added: “We were continuously taking up the case with senior police officials, and with the intervention of Mr. Garg, who ordered a reinvestigation, a wrong has been righted.”

Investigations into sexual crimes should not be done as a routine task but must be considered contextually by taking into account various factors, said Ms. Vidya.

Published - November 22, 2024 06:15 pm IST