File picture of the experts’ team from All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, at SCB in Cuttack

Cuttack, Aug. 25: Justice P.K. Mohanty Commission has summoned an AIIMS expert in connection with the alleged Pipili rape case.

Sanjeev Lawani, an associate professor in the forensic medicine and toxicology department at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, has been asked by the commission to depose in connection with the medical examination of the alleged Pipili rape victim.

A four-member team from AIIMS had conducted the medical examination of the victim at SCB Medical College and Hospital on January 28, 2012, to assist the CID-crime branch in investigating the case. Subsequently, the CID-crime branch did not include the charges of rape in the chargesheet, citing observations of the AIIMS team.

“The commission has asked Lawani to appear before it on September 12. He was a member of the team that conducted the medical examination of the victim. The summons were issued yesterday as T.D. Dogra, head of the forensic medicine and toxicology department at AIIMS, who had headed the four member team, was not available,” the commission’s secretary Niranjan Nayak said.

“Apart from the allegation in the FIR, which is based on mere suspicion, no evidence could be found which substantiates the allegation of rape,” the CID-crime branch had claimed in its chargesheet, adding that “a medico-legal examination of victim by the AIIMS medical board ruled out rape. Semen stains were also not found in the chemical examination of the victim’s garments. The AIIMS medical board was unable to come to a finding on rape because of the lapse of time”.

The state government had appointed the one-member judicial inquiry commission to ascertain the circumstances leading to the loss of consciousness of the Dalit girl, identify the persons responsible for the incident and find out the role of the cops in discharging their duty.