Hundreds of people in Kerala took to the streets yesterday to demand a fast investigation into the rape, murder and mutilation of a woman whose death has drawn comparisons with a 2012 gang-rape in New Delhi that forced a change to the law.
Police are looking for a suspect seen leaving the home of the 30-year-old university law student who suffered multiple stab wounds and had her intestines pulled out during the attack.
Jisha was found murdered at her home near a canal in Perumbavoor by her mother, a labourer.
Protesters gathered outside the hospital where the Jisha’s body had been taken, holding placards demanding justice for the victim, who belonged to the Dalit community.
“Neighbours have come forward and said they heard noises and saw a man leaving the woman’s home on April 28, the day of the murder. It appears to be someone she knew and we are following the leads we have,” district police chief Yatish Chandra said.
“Such a brutal attack could not have happened in our state,” Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said. “That was barbaric. The culprit would be brought to book at the earliest.”
Kerala Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala said police had filed a case of rape and murder and were awaiting autopsy reports.
“Today, three people have been taken into custody and are being interrogated. Investigations are headed in the right direction,” the minister said.
Chennithala brushed aside allegations of police inaction after no formal arrests had been made five days after the crime.
“Police are working hard and we will book all culprits. I can promise there will be no laxity on this,” he said.
“It is a brutal murder, a combination of strangling, smothering and inflicting injuries. ... Nobody has seen the accused, some witnesses have heard the commotion, but the versions are rather vague,” senior police officer Mahipal Yadav told reporters.
Women activists and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) slammed the police for the way they have handled the case.
“The police are not allowed to do their job and the government is also not doing anything,” said CPM leader Pinarayi Vijayan.
In the state capital, women journalists took out a march demanding that police act with speed.
“The police appear to be soft and silent in the probe. It is five days since the incident took place and nothing seems to be happening,” said lawyer and women’s rights activist Ginakumari.
The victim completed her law course but could not clear some subjects and had been preparing for exams of the pending papers. Her father Pappu had separated from the family a few years ago and her sister was married.
“Our neighbours did not come to our help even after coming to know of the murder. We want the law to come to our aid and arrest those who have done this,” Jisha’s mother said.
Jisha’s sister Deepa said the neighbours were trying to evict them from their home. “They did not come to her rescue even when she was brutally assaulted.”
Women’s rights and violence against women has been under the spotlight since the 2012 killing and last week’s attack underlines the particular vulnerability of women from lower castes, activists and experts said.
“At least 35 to 40% of families in Kerala are headed by women. Even the mother of this young Dalit woman was bringing up two daughters in a vulnerable space with no security,” J Devika of the Centre for Development Studies, a research institute, in Thiruvananthapuram said.
“That is disturbing and as is the fact that no one cared until it hit the headlines five days later,” Devika said.