It has now emerged that the doctors who initially treated the 14-year-old girl from Tirthahalli, who was allegedly kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and who subsequently died on Friday, failed to adhere to the basic procedure of bringing the case to the notice of the police. This, the police say, is a setback to the investigation.
Doctors at the Jaya Chamarajendra (JC) Hospital at Tirthahalli town and those at the district McGann Hospital in the city — both government establishments — failed to immediately alert the jurisdictional police.
As per the procedure, a medico-legal case was to have been registered after the police recorded the statement of the victim. However, in the Tirthahalli case, the doctors did not follow this. Since the victim is dead, the police are now finding it difficult to gather the evidence necessary to build up a strong case.
According to the complaint lodged by the victim father, she was kidnapped on Wednesday morning when she was on her way to school and was molested.
She was found abandoned at the forest in Anandagiri hill in the vicinity of the school. After she complained of health problems, the parents admitted her to JC Hospital at Tirthahalli in the night. The urine and blood samples of the victim were tested and the doctors treated her for fever and vomiting. As her condition worsened, she was shifted to McGann Hospital. Here too, the doctors conducted the same tests. As there was no improvement, she was admitted to a private hospital in Manipal. It was here that the police were intimated about the incident and a medico-legal case was registered. The victim was at both JC Hospital and McGann Hospital for more than 10 hours, but the doctors did not intimate the police.
Superintendent of Police Koushalendra Kumar said that the “negligence by the doctors was apparent” in the case. In the absence of an oral statement by the victim, the investigation officers will have to rely on the post-mortem report now. The police will get the autopsy report shortly, he said. The doctors and medical personnel who attended on the patient at both the hospitals would be quizzed, he said.
Ban orders Meanwhile, the situation at Tirthahalli returned to normality on Sunday. Prohibitory orders have been clamped on the town from November 3 to 10. The district administration has declared holiday for schools and colleges in Tirthahalli taluk on Monday.
War of words
The the minor girl's death has resulted in a war words between leaders of the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Minister of State for Primary and Secondary Education Kimmane Ratnakar, who is also the local MLA, alleged that the BJP and the Sangh Parivar activists were responsible for the incidents of stone pelting at Tirthahalli on Saturday.
“It is unfortunate that the BJP leaders were trying to secure political advantage over the issue by provoking people,” he told presspersons at Tirthahalli on Sunday.
Araga Jnanendra, BJP leader and former MLA, refuted the charges, saying it was the Congress which was trying to politicise the issue. The people observed a voluntary bandh on Saturday and the BJP had no role in it, he said.
