Dainik Jagran’s story on #KathuaCase is back online

Yesterday, one of India’s largest circulating news dailies, Dainik Jagran, published a front-page report that summarily dismissed the rape of eight-year-old girl in Kathua, Jammu.

The story claimed that there had been two post-mortem reports prepared in the case and that the first report did not speak of any act of rape — implying that it was a later addition by the Crime Branch.

When Newslaundry reached out to the paper’s digital editor, Kamlesh Raghuvanshi, he said the story was pulled down because the reporter of the story did not have valid records and facts to support it.

Raghuvanshi said the story went to print since the reporter “had seen” the relevant documents. He claimed that Jagran was now in possession of the documents — chiefly the two post-mortem reports — which is why it was put back up. He added the story may be updated once they go through all the documents. The theory of there being two post-mortem reports is also being thrown around by defence lawyer Aseem Sahni, who was quoted in the Jagran story. When Newslaundry asked Sahni to share the first post-mortem report, he refused as did Raghuvanshi.

Inspector General Crime Branch Syed Afhad-ul-Mujtaba said the theory of “two post-mortems” was being floated by the defence lawyers to mislead the media. SSP Ramesh Kumar Jala also said there is no question of two post-mortem reports.

You can read Newslaundry Hindi’s detailed report on Dainik Jagran’s dubious front-page report and how it twists the facts of the case to peddle a malicious narrative on the rape and murder of an 8-year-old.