Medical board wants belongings of Badaun rape victims

New Delhi: A medical board has asked CBI to hand over to it the personal belongings of the alleged rape and murder victims of Badaun in Uttar Pradesh for forming an opinion.

The medical board is trying to gather evidence from belogings of the victims as its attempts to exhume bodies for fresh autopsy failed because of the rising water level of river Ganga which engulfed the graves of the two victims, CBI sources said. They said several articles of the victims have been sent to Centre for Forensic Science Laboratory and the Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics in Hyderabad for DNA analysis and forensic evidence. The sources said they will try to get those items from the Hyderabad laboratory once it finishes its work and provide them to the medical board. The family of the victims has argued had the exhumation process been done early, such a situation could have been avoided but CBI says the medical panels work independently and it only facilitates their work. Soon after taking over the probe in the rape and murder case, CBI had written on June 21 to Delhi government to constitute a panel of doctors in the case. The panel, constituted on June 23, decided to exhume the bodies during its meeting on July 17 despite repeated reminders from CBI to hold a meeting. But by that time, the water level of the river had started rising because of incessant rains, the sources said. After the decision was taken, CBI approached the District administration on July 18 and collected all the necessary permissions for the exhumation on July 20, as desired by the board, but by that time the overflowing Ganga water had engulfed the graves of the minor girls, making it difficult to access them. The alleged rape and murder had come to light on May 28 when the bodies of two cousins, aged 14 and 15 years old, were found hanging from a tree in the village in Ushait area in UP`s Badaun district, sparking a nationwide outrage.