A close scrutiny of the postmortem report of the raped-and-murdered 31-year-old postgraduate trainee doctor of Kolkata’s R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital, accessed by INDIA TODAY, reveals the immense physical trauma she was subjected to. The brutal rape and murder inside the hospital has sparked a nationwide outcry for justice for the doctor and a safer ecosystem for women in India.
According to the report, the doctor’s both cheeks had multiple crescentic abrasions. There is one abrasion over the mid part of her lip with an underlying bruise, while the inner side of both her upper and lower lips have multiple abrasions. There are abrasions over the left side of the bridge and ala of her nose, over the philtrum and the supralabial; over the undersurface of the right side of her jaw; crescentic abrasions over the left side of the anterior surface of the neck—which have been described in the report as marks of ‘sucking’.
The report says three crescentic marks have been found on the lateral surface of the doctor’s left arm, a bruise over the posterior of her left shoulder and one abrasion on her left knee. There is also an abrasion behind the left lateral malleolus, which is the outside bone of the fibula or the calf bone. There are multiple other injuries on her scalp, neck, thyroid cartilage and inner side of the epiglottis.
The postmortem report also mentions that a “white thick viscid liquid” was found inside her endocervical canal. The endocervical canal is the inner part of the cervix that forms a canal that connects the vagina to the uterus. The tests to determine the nature of the liquid are ongoing even as sources claim that it could be the key to resolution of the case.
The postgraduate second-year student of pulmonary medicine was found dead inside the seminar hall on the third floor of the emergency building of the hospital on August 10. The Kolkata police had arrested a civic volunteer, Sanjay Roy, as a suspect before the case was transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on the orders of the Calcutta High Court.
One of the petitions filed with the division bench of the chief justice of the high court claimed that during the postmortem, 150 g of semen was found inside her hymen. Sources clarified that it were the “external and internal genitalia” collected from the body that weighed 151 g and not the liquid in question.
However, a bruise has been found on the right side of her hymen and one full thickness tear—which refers to the complete detachment of a tender from the bone—of the hymen with oozing blood.
The report describes all the injuries as antemortem, which means they were inflicted on the woman before her death. “Death was due to effects of manual strangulation associated with smothering…manner of death—homicidal. There is medical evidence of forceful penetration/ insertion in her genitalia—possibility of sexual assault,” the report reads.
Referring to the report, a doctor, who did not wished to be identified, said that it appeared to be a hate crime. “If you notice, all the bruises, abrasions and injuries are on the doctor’s face. She was badly beaten up. But other than her left leg, most bruises are between her eyes and neck. That is something one needs to investigate,” the doctor said.
The postmortem report doesn’t determine whether the rape was committed before or after the murder. It also doesn’t conclude if it was perpetrated by a single person or there were multiple people. About 185 g of partly digested food was recovered from the doctor’s stomach, without any peculiar smell. Blood samples were collected, but with the toxicology report not attached herewith, it cannot be determined from the report if the doctor was drugged.
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