New Delhi: The police are looking into DNA samples and other scientific evidence in connection with an alleged gangrape of a 17-year-old girl in northeast Delhi’s Harsh Vihar area, officials said on Friday. According to the police, the incident took place on Wednesday night. In her complaint, the girl said that she was returning home with her brother-in-law when the accused tried to snatch her purse.
When she resisted, the men threatened her with a knife and raped her. Later, police arrested three accused who were also found to be involved in criminal cases in the past. However, the medical examination of the girl did not confirm rape, police sources said, adding that the rape case was registered based on the girl’s complaint.
“In case where an MLC (medicolegal cases) rules out any sign of rape, the police then looks into scientific evidence. The sample of vaginal swab of the victim is taken and is then matched with the samples of the suspects,” said an official who did not wish to be named. The official said that the clothes of the victim and that of the suspects are also seized as part of the investigation.
After a nationwide outrage over the Nirbhaya gangrape in 2012, the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act had come into force in 2013 for providing a strong deterrent against crimes like rapes. This law states that an offender can be sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than 20 years, but which may extend to life, meaning imprisonment for the remainder of the convict’s natural life and with a fine.
It has provisions for handing out death sentence to offenders who may have been convicted earlier for such crimes. The law also seeks to widen the definition of rape, broaden the ambit of aggravated rape and enhance the punishment for such crimes. In April 2018, President Ram Nath Kovind had promulgated an ordinance to pave way for providing stringent punishment, including death penalty, for those convicted of raping minors below the age of 12 years.
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