Badaun case: CBI report sparks uproar

On Thursday, the CBI submitted its report on the mystery death in which said that the Badaun teenage cousins, who were found hanging from a tree in May this year, had committed suicide and were not gang-raped and murdered as was thought all this time.

The CBI, which took over the investigation in June amid global outrage, said "40 scientific reports" have confirmed suicide.

The autopsy that confirmed rape was unreliable and not a professional job, it said.

According to reports, the federal investigation agency said the girls were not sexually assaulted.

The CBI’s assessment was based on forensic tests at the Hyderabad-based Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics and a medical board which had dismissed the rape theory as “highly unlikely”.

It also said a key witness had lied about seeing the girls dragged by some men.

CBI subjected the girls’ families, witnesses and the accused through lie-detector tests. One of the main witnesses was also found to have lied about seeing the girls being dragged away by a villager.

But the families of the girls have rejected it. They say they want Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure a fair probe.

"The CBI has not explained why they would commit suicide. If we don't get justice we will kill ourselves," said Sohan Lal, the father of one of the girls.

The CBI's findings have raised a political storm and left many questions.

It is not explained how the girls, who were around 5 feet, could have climbed a tree almost 10 feet high.

It is also not clear why there were tyre marks under the tree and who destroyed the mobile phones of the girls.

"I think that the CBI has decided in haste. They haven't gone completely into the facts. We will investigate," said Uttar Pradesh politician Mayawati, who had targeted the state's ruling Samajwadi Party for failing to protect women and stop rapes.

Two girls, aged 14 and 15, were found hanging from a mango tree near their village in Uttar Pradesh on May 28 - a day after they had reportedly gone missing.

Autopsy reports had also indicated that they were raped before they died, sources said.

The victims’ families had alleged that the duo was kidnapped, gang-raped and murdered by five young men of a family in the village.

They also claimed that the police refused to help when the girls went missing as they wanted to protect the accused as they belonged to a higher caste.

All five men arrested in the case, including two constables, were let off on bail in September, after the CBI refused to file a charge-sheet against them.

The incident created a nationwide uproar then.

The case sparked fresh debate about India's treatment of women, less than two years after public anger over the fatal gang-rape of a student on a moving bus in Delhi.

UN Secretary General Ban ki Moon said he was appalled.

Meanwhile, after CBI's report, the Samajwadi Party has demanded an apology from "everyone who targeted our government."

"We were maligned. Media has been proved wrong," said Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.