Bhandara:
After an investigation impoverished in breakthroughs, the police in Bhandara in Maharashtra have detained three people for the rape and murder of three sisters between the ages of six and 11.
The post-mortem of the girls had confirmed that they were raped. But an early forensic report has not found conclusive legal evidence that the sisters were sexually assaulted, which could undermine the trial, if the culprits are caught. NDTV reported last week on how crucial samples needed to establish the crime were not collected by doctors handling the autopsy. (Read:
After rape and murder of three young girls, signs of lapses in investigation)
The Bhandara case has been a wrenching highlight of the national discourse on the safety for women, which began when a medical student was fatally raped on a moving bus in Delhi in December.
Last week, Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde updated Parliament on the status of the Bhandara enquiry and said, "It appears that all three (girls) were subjected to sexual abuse before being murdered. The collective conscience of the House, I am sure, is jolted by this."
The girls were found dead in a well two days after they went missing from their school.