The family of British teenager Scarlett Keeling who died in south India last year said Thursday they were shocked that police did not charge two men accused in her death with rape and murder.
Federal investigators formally charged both men on Wednesday in the resort state of Goa over the death of 15-year-old Keeling whose bruised and partially naked body was found on popular Anjuna beach on February 18, 2008.
Samson D’Souza and Placido Carvalho were charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder, using force with intent to outrage a woman’s modesty and administering a drug with intent to harm.
The charges filed by the federal Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) were much weaker than the murder and rape counts sought by the family, Vikram Varma, lawyer for the Keeling family, told AFP in Goa.
“Despite forensic doctors confirming rape and homicide, to the shock of my client, the supplementary charge-sheet filed by CBI has not only diluted the charges to culpable homicide but also ruled out rape,” Varma said.