A special court here on Tuesday issued a notice to the 24-year-old law student suspected of having slashed the genitals of her “sexual aggressor,” a 54-year-old godman, asking her whether she was willing to take a narco analysis test.
The police on Monday moved the Protection of Children From Sexual Offences (POCSO) court here to put the woman through the test after they perceived an abrupt reversal in her stance.
‘Reversal’ of stand
Their case was that she had ‘flip-flopped’ on her sworn statement that the godman, Gangeshananda, alias Hari, had repeatedly raped her since she was 14. Hari, who has been charged under the POCSO Act, was a regular visitor at her house since 2008.
Woman’s counsel Anita Jacob said her client reserved the right to file an objection petition. The crime occurred at her house on May 21.
The police said the woman had “reversed” her statement in a letter she purportedly wrote to Hari’s lawyer Sasthamangalam Ajith. The contentious document debunked the police version that Hari was to blame for the assault and the woman had acted in self-defence to halt “years of sexual abuse.”
Shadowy instigator
They hinted at the involvement of a shadowy instigator and a larger conspiracy to “punish” Hari for his role in the campaign to “regain the birthplace” of 19th century seer Chattambi Swamy from its legal owner, a police officer.
A forensic examination of the clothes the woman was wearing at the time of the assault had “turned up no leading biological evidence pointing to sexual abuse”, according to the police.
The woman, who said crime was a desperate act to halt years of sexual abuse, had refused to be medically examined. However, the fingerprints lifted from the assault weapon, a knife, matched those of hers.
The case took another turn on Monday with the woman’s acquaintance, a man she “blamed” for instigating the attack in her purported letter, moved a habeas corpus petition in the High Court stating that the law student was under illegal detention. The Crime Branch is scheduled to take over the probe soon.
The court has rejected Hari’s bail application.