ERNAKULAM (Kerala): A migrant labourer has been booked and arrested for the gruesome rape and mutilation of a 30 year old Dalit law student. Officials said the man was living and working in the area around victim's home and had fled on the night of the crime.
"It was the labourer's footwear found from the site that was the main lead. The investigation involved several states," said a police officer. In his confession, the man claimed he knew the victim and had a quarrel with her on April 28, the day of the crime. The student's body was found with wounds and bite marks with her intestines hanging out. The investigation of the case was littered with mistakes, the house was not blocked off as a crime scene, and forensic experts were summoned late.
It was only after the Left-led government that came into power, that a team of 100 police personnel were formed and a senior woman IPS officer was appointed as the head. 1,500 people were questioned, 5,000 fingerprints were taken and 2000,000 phone calls were traced. Political parties suggested the police had initially tried to protect the previous UDF government by claiming the student had not been raped. "The accused must be hung to death for the crime he committed. He must be dealt with in the same manner as he dealt with my daughter. There is no other justice," said the mother of the victim.
