In north Gujarat a 19-year-old Dalit woman was kidnapped, gangraped and murdered before her body was hanged from a tree to make it look like a suicide.

The victim had gone missing on December 31 and her body was found on January 5. According to the details of the Nirbhaya-like case, after the deceased went missing, her family had approached the police on January 3 to lodge an FIR but the local police refused. Local police inspector N.L. Rabari told the family that the girl was safe and had eloped with a boy of the same community and both had got married so no case was required to be lodged. However, on January 5, her body was found hanging on a tree. The family members refused to accept the body contending that she was murdered and did not commit suicide. A panel of doctors at the Ahmedabad civil hospital conducted the postmortem.

The autopsy was conducted after the police lodged a case of kidnapping, gangrape and murder against four persons. The four had allegedly kidnapped the victim, gangraped her before murdering. They did not stop at that, after murdering, they hanged the body on a tree to make it a suicide case. On Tuesday, the police lodged an FIR naming four persons — Bimal Bharvad, Darshan Bharvad, Satish Bharvad and Jigar — for the incident. After the registration of the FIR, the family agreed to claim the body, which was sent for postmortem at the Ahmedabad civil hospital. The case was registered under various provisions and Sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act after protest by thousands of Dalits in front of the local police station.

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