19-year-old alleged rape victim dies

The victim did not tell her family members about the alleged incident before being admitted to a hospital. She reportedly told her father about the sexual assault through signs, police said.

A 19-year-old HIV positive woman, who was allegedly gang-raped by four people in Chembur in July, died at a government hospital in Aurangabad, where she was undergoing treatment for more than 45 days, on Wednesday evening. The girl was unconscious through her treatment at the hospital and hence her statement could not be recorded, police said.

A 19-year-old HIV positive woman, who was allegedly gang-raped by four people in Chembur in July, died at a government hospital in Aurangabad. (AP photo)

Sashi Kumar Meena, deputy commissioner of police, zone 6, said, “The facts given by the victim’s family in the FIR are vague and imprecise in nature and most of it could not be corroborated during the investigation.”

The victim did not tell her family members about the alleged incident before being admitted to a hospital. She reportedly told her father about the sexual assault through signs, police said.

Dr KU Zine, superintendent of the Government Medical College and Hospital, Aurangabad, told HT: “The victim did not have any external injury when she was brought to the hospital. The cause of her death will be ascertained only after the post-mortem.”

Earlier, the woman’s father told the police that she had gone to Mumbai around two months ago to stay with her brother. On July 7, the accused called her for a birthday celebration and later they allegedly sexually assaulted her. The woman was not feeling well and hence she was taken back to her hometown in Jalna by her father on July 16.

In Jalna, she showed some symptoms of paralysis and was admitted to a local hospital. On July 21, her condition worsened and she was rushed to the Government Medical College and Hospital in Aurangabad. On July 27, her father informed the hospital authority about the gang rape. The Begumpura police were informed and they recorded her father’s statement. The police registered a ‘Zero FIR’ under sections of gangrape and transferred it to Mumbai’s Chunabhatti police station, as the alleged incident occurred in their jurisdiction. The brother of the victim alleged the police and hospital were suppressing the matter. “The doctors and the police did not take the case seriously.”