Medical report from last year says Unnao rape survivor was 19 years old

The accused, BJP legislator Kuldeep Singh Sengar, has been booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act since the rape survivor was believed to be a minor at the time of the crime.

People gather to protest the rape of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua, and a teenager in UP’s Unnao, in Mumbai on Sunday. The incidents have spurred public anger and led to demands of a death penalty for the culprits. (Reuters)

Confusion continues to prevail over the age of the Unnao rape survivor. A medical report in June 2017, shortly after the alleged rape says the survivor was 19 years old, contradicting her claim that she was born in July 2002.

HT has a copy of the medical report.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which is investigating the case, conducted another medical examination in Lucknow on Saturday to determine her age. If the CBI corroborates the earlier report’s findings that the girl was not a minor, then sections under which BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar has been charged will change. Sengar has been booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act.

According to the 2017 report, the survivor first underwent a medical examination on June 22, 2017, two days after the Unnao police recovered her from Auraiya district following her alleged kidnapping and rape. The examination was conducted by Dr SK Johri, a radiologist at the Unnao district hospital.

At the time, the police arrested three people — Naresh Tiwari, Shubham Singh and Brajesh Yadav — on charges of kidnapping and raping the girl. The police did not invoke Pocso.

Dr Johri said constable Ruby Singh had brought the survivor to the hospital and then chief medical officer had asked him to conduct the medical examination.

“Her right knee, elbow and wrist were X-rayed; on examining the X-ray plates, I found all the joints had conjoined with each other well,” he said. “It meant the elongation of the bones was complete. After going through the X-rays, I mentioned in the report that the victim was 19 years-plus. I stand by my finding,” he said.

After the medical examination in June 2017, the survivor was produced before a magistrate to record her statement. She did not name Sengar in her statement. She now alleges that she was under pressure from the MLA to not name him and that she feared for the lives of her family members. In a second FIR on April 12, 2018, in which Sengar was named, the police invoked Pocso.

There is also confusion over the date of birth of the survivor. In the FIR against the MLA, her mother said she was born on August 17, 2002. The victim, in her statement before the magistrate, said she was born on July 15, 2002. A school certificate issued three days before the alleged raped, mentions her date of birth as April 15, 2002.

The only document that corroborates her date of birth mentioned in the FIR is the transfer certificate issued to her by SBS Public School, Raudapur in Rae Bareli. Though it mentions the date of birth as August 17, 2002, the name of survivor incorrect but that of parents is correct.