Appearance of Jiah Khan’s duppatta probes more questions

The case of Jiah Khan’s death is still an on going process three years after she passed away. New reports have emerged stating that the late actress’ duppatta has now appeared in the Forensic Science Laboratory where it can be examined, to identify if her death was suicide or homicide.

However as Mid-Day reports, there are many questions that arise as to why the duppatta has only just appeared for examination. The report explains how the Central Bureau of Investigation never collected the item from the lab in the first place. Only when asked about it by Khan’s mother Rabia was it collected.

Kalpana Gadekar, Senior Inspector, BKC police station was first attached to Khan’s case in 2013. She was reported explaining, “Usually, we do not submit the exhibits received from the crime scene until the trial begins, and in the Jiah Khan case, the trial had been stayed by the Bombay High Court, so there was no reason for us to submit the exhibits.”

However, Swapnil Ambure who is Khan’s (Rabia) lawyer explained, “Our contention is that the CBI did not submit the dupatta for examination to the expert committee at Chandigarh and therefore the committee could not come to a conclusion without examining it.”

Taking about the dupatta not being tested, a member of the CBI stated, “We had been writing to the FSL, Kalina, asking them to submit all the exhibits, including the dupatta, but they never responded to us.”

However Ambure had questions about this as well. “If the CBI had written letters to the FSL, Kalina, why did they not inform the court about it? Also, how could the CBI submit a charge sheet in the case without the dupatta being examined?” He asked.

The lawyer went on to add, “The Chandigarh team could not come to a conclusion without examining the dupatta and other materials. How then could the CBI claim to have to completed its probe?”

Also talking to the media was a Forensic scientist from the Lab who expressed that through examining the dupatta they would be able to match the likes of blood stains and hair follicles that may have being caught in the material as well as, the marks of the duppatta matching any marks that maybe left on the skin from where pressure was most penetrated. Through this they would also be able to find out if the duppatta was strong enough to hold her body. “Usually, we hand over all the exhibits that the police collect from the crime scene once we are done with our analysis,” they explained.

Looks like this is a case that still has a long way to go.

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