Ujjain horror: FIR delayed as priority was to get girl treated first, say police

UJJAIN: The FIR into the brutal rape of a 12-year-old girl in Ujjain described her as someone who "roamed around temples", surviving on food given to her by people.
The FIR (No. 0510) registered at 8.29pm on September 25 at Mahakal police station -- a copy of which is with TOI -- mentions that the delay in filing the FIR was due to the fact that the girl was 'mentally unstable' and the priority was to get her treated.During the painstaking investigation that followed - since the traumatized child wasn't able to provide much information -- it was found that she had travelled alone to Ujjain from her village in Satna and was walking around Ujjain when she was picked up by an autorickshaw driver and raped in an isolated spot in the early hours of September 25. The FIR quoted her as saying: "I roam around the temples of Ujjain and eat whatever is given to me. Last night, when I was sitting near Barnagar Road, an unknown person approached me..."
The FIR was based on 'dehati nalsi' -- a technical term for documents prepared by police away from the police station, in case the priority is other than filing a formal FIR. An officer said that their top priority was to ensure she gets medical care urgently without paperwork proving to be a hindrance.
Advocate Hardayal Singh said the 'dehati nalsi' is prepared in serious cases when the victim is in hospital. The document is used as the basis of filing the FIR contents.
Ujjain additional SP (North) Jayant Singh Rathore told TOI that the police followed the sequence of events and statements given by the girl. "The girl is mentally weak. We documented what she said. Her name and her father's name given by the girl were correct. She was speaking something or the other, mostly incoherent," he said, adding: "Our priority was to get the girl good treatment and catch the accused, which we did."
The child's family, which visited the Indore hospital where she is being treated, has alleged that Satna police did not file a missing person's report when they first went to them with a complaint. The kin were allegedly told to 'go, look for her themselves' and return if they didn't find her in 24 hours. Had police acted swiftly on their complaint, she may have been rescued before she could board a train for Ujjain, they say.
Ujjain police sifted through hundreds of CCTV clips before they could track the girl's movements after she arrived at Ujjain railway station. This proved to be the key in cracking the case where they didn't have any clues to start with.
The child has been operated on and is recovering in hospital. A medical team is monitoring her constantly.