Sr Abhaya not raped before death, say experts

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Former chemical examiners of chemical examiners’ laboratory here who had examined the samples of internal organs of Sister Abhaya’s body told a CBI special court that there was no evidence to prove that Abhaya was raped prior to her death. R Geetha and M Chitra, who had retired from chemical examiners’ laboratory, said no semen was detected during the examination of vaginal swab and smear collected from the body.
During the examination by CBI prosecutor M Navas, both witnesses also said there was no trace of poison in the viscera sample of Abhaya. The prosecutor also asked about the criminal case registered against Geetha, who was the chief chemical examiner, and Chitra, who was the junior scientific officer. Following a petition filed by activist Jomon Puthenpurackal based on a newspaper report alleging that the chemical examination report in the case was tampered by both officials, the chief judicial magistrate ordered to register a case against the officials. Later, the CJM court acquitted both in the case, but Jomon has challenged the acquittal in the high court where the trial of the case is still pending.
Chitra, who did the chemical tests in the lab, told the court that the corrections made on the work book were routine corrections and that was normal for officials to make such corrections. To questions, she detailed the process followed to identify presence of semen that included multiple tests and said the tests clearly negated presence of semen. The CBI team had interrogated both officials as part of the probe and even sought the help of experts from AIIMS, New Delhi, to cross-check their statements. Finally, they were let off from all charges by the investigators.
The counsel of the accused also didn’t spend much time cross-examining the witnesses as their deposition didn’t make any serious impact in the case. On Thursday, the case will come up for hearing and Jomon will be examined as witness.