Police move plea for DNA retest

Ishrat S Banwait

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 18

After the DNA test result of the accused uncle in the 10-year-old’s rape case turned out to be negative, the police have moved a fresh application for conducting the test again. However, the police seem to have lost trust in the Chandigarh forensic laboratory and have asked for the test to be conducted by the CSFL in Delhi, Hyderabad or Dehradun.

The court has issued production warrants for Kul Bahadur to be produced before it on Tuesday in this regard. Police sources have hinted that they believe the report may be incorrect and have demanded a change in the laboratory. While the police have started further investigation into the case, the trial against Kul Bahadur will continue and the next hearing in the case is scheduled for Friday. Until the report of the DNA test arrived, it was believed that Kul Bahadur was the father of the girl child born on August 17.

The victim as well as her mother have already identified Kul Bahadur as the accused in the court and the family has maintained that it does not doubt anyone else. The statement of the investigating officer in the case is yet to be recorded in the court.

The 10-year-old victim was repeatedly raped allegedly by her uncle and gave birth to a baby girl last month. The crime came to light when the victim was taken to the hospital on complaining of stomach ache where she was found to be 24-week pregnant. On July 28, the Supreme Court had dismissed a plea seeking its nod for terminating the pregnancy of the rape survivor after taking note of a medical report that abortion was not safe for the girl as well as the foetus.