SHILLONG: The RTI replies received from the Meghalaya State Commission for Women (MSCW), on the torture of 12 girls in Tura recently, shows that the medical reports were not checked by the Member of the Commission who conducted the inquiry.
If the medial reports were checked, the Commission would have found that the Investigating Officer of the case, Pushpa Chettri, had taken 12 women for medical examination while there are only 10 reports. CSWO president Agnes Kharshiing had filed the RTI.
As per report of the Officer who conducted the inquiry on the orders of the DC, a copy of the report of which was also sought through RTI from the Social Welfare department, the medical report of only 10 women was prepared and two women were not at all examined as their names were never reflected in the reports.
According to Kharshiing, it was surprising that as a Women’s Commission, they never even raised questions on the issue of women being stripped in the Tura Women Police Station in front of journalists and men, and the photographs were also circulated by the journalists, which is a clear case of outrage of modesty against women.
The doctor’s statement to the Commission mentioned that the girls were not in pain and the bruises were 4-7 days old while the injuries seemed to be new.
The CSWO wondered as to why the Commission avoided taking copies of the medical reports which are crucial to determine the cause and extent of the injuries sustained by the girls, especially when the medical reports also bore signs of tampering. The report availed from Social Welfare department did not have the date and time of the examination. The girls were brought to the police station between 8.30 to 9 pm but the Doctor examined them only at 12.30 am.
The CSWO said it will demand an inquiry into the stripping of girls in the police station, the investigation into medical reports being tampered, and how the women sustained such grievous injuries which did not reflect in the statement of the doctor who examined them first.
