A Dalit law student was raped, murdered at her home in Kerala on April 28. The house was blocked off as a crime scene six days later
Highlights
- Dalit student raped, murdered at her home in Ernakulam on April 28
- Body was found with wounds and bite marks, her intestines hanging out
- For days after she died, her house was not blocked off as a crime scene
A migrant labourer from Assam, Amir-Ul-Islam, has been arrested for the horrific rape, mutilation and murder of a 30-year-old Dalit law student from Kerala's Ernakulam, which took place nearly two months ago.
Police said the man was living and working in the area around the home of the woman, whose killing had been described as a "blind murder" by new police chief Loknath Behara.
The man, the police said, had fled the neighbourhood on the night of the crime. They zeroed in on him after tracking him from Tamil Nadu and he had been in custody for long till the police matched up the evidence.
"It was the labourer's footwear found from the site that was the main lead. The investigation involved several states," said a police officer.
In his confession, the man has claimed that he knew the victim and had a quarrel with her on April 28, the day of the crime, the police said, adding that it had to be verified.
"The accused must be hung to death for the crime he committed. He must be dealt with in the same manner as he dealt with my daughter. There is no other justice," the woman's mother said.
The student was raped and murdered on April 28. Her body was found with wounds and bite marks, her intestines hanging out.
The investigation thereafter was littered with mistakes. For days, the house was not blocked off as a crime scene. Forensic experts were summoned late. Two sketches released by the police based on neighbours' descriptions, were vastly different.
After the Left-led government of Pinarayi Vijayan came to power, a team of 100 police personnel were formed and a senior woman IPS officer was appointed as its head to crack the case. In the process, 1,500 people had been questioned, 5000 people's fingerprints were taken and 20 lakh phone calls were traced.
Activists argued that the victim's simple background - she lived in a one-room home without a toilet with her mother and sister - has dissuaded the wider anger and attention that the crime should have commanded. Political parties suggested the police had initially tried to protect the earlier UDF government by claiming the student had not been raped.