Court accepted no proof of rape solely for deciding compensation, was not on merit of case: Police

New Delhi: In response to a report that said that the Delhi Police is yet to find evidence that can confirm the rape of the 9-year-old Dalit girl in Delhi Cantonment, the Delhi Police has said that the court had accepted this premise because at the current stage and only for the purpose of deciding the compensation to be paid to the victim's family members, the Delhi Police did not have enough evidence of rape.

The Delhi Police has said that it could not find so far any evidence to prove the rape as alleged by the parents of the girl but it had through disclosure statements found that the local priest Radhey Shyam and an employee of the crematorium he worked at had raped the child and then killed her.

The Delhi Police has on Saturday said that their reply was to a petition filed by the victim's mother, seeking compensation. The court had said it would not be able to provide more compensation on grounds of rape because at this stage there was not enough evidence.

The Delhi Police continued that the court had not remarked anything on the merit of the case or the investigation into it and that the court had allowed the petitioners to file a plea again if and when more evidence is collected.

The Delhi Police said medical and scientific evidence materials are being gathered as the probe is underway, and they have already gathered circumstantial evidence and expert opinion on this evidence is awaited. It said, "The investigating agency is proceeding in a professional manner to carry out evidence-based scientific investigation against the accused persons to take the case to its logical conclusion within a time-bound manner."

The Delhi Police made these statements in a rejoinder to the aforementioned story that Millennium Post carried in its August 14 Delhi edition — as did countless other leading newspapers in the Capital. The headline in Millennium Post was "No proof to confirm Dalit girl's rape: Police".

All these points made in the Delhi Police's statement have been carried in the version of the story printed on August 14.

But the Delhi Police PRO, Chinmoy Biswal, said, "The heading given to the story in your esteemed daily 'No proof to confirm Dalit girl's rape: Police' is highly misleading, erroneous and prejudicial with respect to the investigation into this sensitive case."