HC orders SIT probe in Bageshwar Dham rape case after DNA excludes accused

The Madhya Pradesh high court has ordered a probe by a special investigation team (SIT) into the alleged rape of a 16-year-old girl at Bageshwar Dham in Chhatarpur district after a forensic report indicated that the man arrested for the assault was not the biological father of the foetus.

Justice Ajay Kumar Nirankari ordered the probe after the suspect, Raju Jatav, who has been in jail, approached the high court for bail and cited the forensic report. The order is dated September 25 but was uploaded on Monday.

“The SIT will now have to ascertain the full sequence of sexual assault on the minor and identify the biological father of the foetus,” the court said in its directions to the Chhatarpur superintendent of police (SP).

According to the teenager’s complaint to the police, she went to Bageshwar Dham on March 15 after an argument with her mother and came in contact with the accused two days later.

“The victim, 16, was medically examined during investigation and found to be two months pregnant. Her pregnancy was terminated and the fetus and placenta were preserved for forensic analysis. The victim has alleged that Jatav raped her at Bageshwar Dham in Chhatarpur district. She was later recovered at the instance of the Jatav’s wife,” the FIR said.

She, however, did not accuse Jatav of sexual assault during the trial.

The high court noted the contradiction in the teenager’s statements.

In her initial statements to the police and a magistrate under Sections 180 and 183 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), the teenager explicitly accused Jatav of raping her. However, during the trial, she turned hostile and denied the allegation during cross-examination.

The high court observed that while the teenager had conceived after physical relations with someone else, she was also subjected to sexual harassment allegedly by Jatav and another person.

Following the spotlight on the incident, the Bageshwar Dham temple management issued an advisory on October 3, urging women devotees to exercise caution, avoid visiting the campus alone, refrain from trusting strangers or sevadars, and avoid prolonged stays on the premises.