In a Nirbhaya-like incident in Kerala, a 29-year-old law student belonging to a poor family was raped and murdered brutally at Iringole in Perumbavur in Ernakulam district, about 45 kilometres away from Kochi. The shocking incident had taken place at the victim’s house on April 28 but the police have not got any clues about the culprits so far.
The body of the victim was found in a horrific condition inside the house by her mother, when she came back from work at about 8.00 pm on April 28. According to the post-mortem report which reportedly confirmed that she was brutally raped and assaulted before death, there were about 30 wounds on the body.
like in the Nirbhaya incident, a sharp weapon had been used for assaulting the victim as her intestines had come out, as per the autopsy report. Both sides of the chest had been pierced by two inches using some sharp weapon, it said. It also suggested that her genitals had been struck with some weapon like an iron rod and her internal organs had been severely damaged.
The report said that the cause of death could have been the severe wounds inflicted in the head. There were marks of wounds inflicted with a sharp weapon in the back of the head, neck and chin, sources in the police said. The body was covered only by a Kurtah when it was found by her mother in the night, they said.
The victim was alone in her house at Iringole near Kuruppampady, Perumbavur when the incident took place. “Some of the neighbours had seen her at about 1.00 pm that day and so the incident should have taken place after that. Though the crime had been committed in broad daylight, the neighbours seem to have heard no sound,” a police official said.
According to the police, who were certain that the murder had taken place amidst rape attempt, more than one person could have been involved in the crime. They said the rape and murder could have been committed after choking the victim with a shawl from behind. The police’s inquest report said that the victim had been struck in the nose with a weapon like a hammer.
As the Perumbavur area has a large number of migrant workers, the preliminary investigations were focused on them, the police said, adding that several persons were being questioned. Though there were reports initially that the crime could have been committed by a mentally deranged person, the police ruled this out considering the nature of the rape-murder.
State Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala said that the Inspector General of Police, Ernakulam Range would supervise the investigations into the rape-murder for which a special team had already been constituted, adding that the culprits would be arrested without delay amidst complaints that the police had not shown any interest in the case initially.
The victim and her mother had been living in the one-room house on the Canal Bund at Iringole. The police said victim’s mother had been showing signs of mental instability, adding that the family had not been close with the neighbours. Jisha had an elder sister but she had been living in another place after her marriage.
According to reports, victim’s father had not been living with them. The victim was a student of the Government law College, Ernakulam. She had completed her llB course but was preparing for examinations as she had not cleared all the papers.