On 31st May 2019, a two and half-year-old girl named Twinkle was kidnapped from Tappal in Aligarh Uttar Pradesh and FIR was registered in Tappal police station of Aligarh district. Her body was found in a dumping ground three days after she went missing by Aligarh police. Two accused Zahid and Aslam was arrested on 4th June 2019.

The post mortem report revealed that she was brutally murdered and her body was ripped apart, uterus missing, other genital organs missing, intestine missing, bones were broken and maggots found in her body. Aligarh police said that Twinkle was murdered because of money related issue. Her father owed Zahid Rs 10000.

On 5th June 2019, Madhur Singh aka placard guy who is famous for his placard presentation over social issues tweeted a photo in which he is saying a 3-year-old girl was raped and murdered brutally and her body was mutilated, eyes gouged out, acid poured over her body. 

Bollywood actress Sunny Leone tweeted "I am sorry Twinkle that you had to you live in a world where humans no longer understand humanity may god look over you for eternity as you are an angel #im sorry"

Senior Bollywood actor Anupam Kher tweeted his photo with a placard written on it justice for Twinkle Sharma with the caption in which he is asking for capital punishment for the accused in this horrific rape and murder case. His tweet reads: 

Angry, horrified, ashamed and deeply saddened beyond words at the barbaric rape of the three year old #TwinkleSharma. The rapist should be hanged in public. No other punishment is enough for this heinous crime. I demand #JusticeForTwinkleSharma .

Actress Sonam K Ahuja tweeted to express her condolences with the family of the victim. 

Premature declaration of no rape?

Aligarh Police replied to several prominent handles to clear the air about the case. They shared the infographic to inform that post-mortem report has not been confirmed till now.

However, Tehseen Poonawalla retweeted the reply by Aligarh Police to claim that Aligarh Police has clarified that the little girl wasn't raped. This is a clear case of misquotation. "Rape not confirmed till now" is not the same as "she wasn't raped".

After that Alt News did a fact check to declared that the girl was not raped. To support the claim they published the tweets of Aligarh Police and the statement of the SSP of Aligarh Akash Kulhary. 

Alt News contacted Akash Kulhary, SSP Aligarh who confirmed that the victim was not raped, adding, “The post-mortem report mentions death by strangulation as the cause. The claims circulating on social media that the victim’s eyes were gouged out and her arm amputated, are also false. Also, the claim that acid was poured on her body, is untrue. No such thing has occurred. The post-mortem report has been shared with the family of the victim.”

However, when we contacted the SSP of Aligarh Akash Kulhary on the telephone, he said that the post mortem report is under scrutiny and samples have been sent for lab testing. He didn't divulge much information but said that even though rape is not confirmed we can't rule it out yet. 

Earlier, ANI UP had tweeted "Akash Kulhary, SSP Aligarh on 2.5-year-old girl death case: We are proceeding with it as an NSA case, we'll try to get it to a fast track court. There is no mention of rape or acid in postmortem report. 2 accused have been arrested, 5 police officials have been suspended".

Aligarh Police has tweeted a video of Akash Kulhary in which he reiterated that in the post-mortem rape was not confirmed. Since some major parts of the victim's body are missing, so it's not that the victim was never raped, it's just that it isn't confirmed yet. 

Post mortem Report

The post mortem report clearly says that major blood loss happened before the death of the victim she might have been subjected to the extreme torture and this can also be the cause of the collapse of the blood vessels other injuries include fracture of the leg below knee and amputation of arm these injuries points towards brutality. Vaginal swabs have taken for examination but due to decomposition they are less likely to be useful, it should be made clear that negative results on swap do not rule out the sexual assault.

Doctors comment on the post mortem report mentions that the uterus and other genital organs were missing since her body was recovered from dump yard. Animals eating the organs is a possibility which cannot be ruled out. Whether these organs were mutilated before or after the death (eaten by animals) is very difficult to know and will require advance forensics. 

In the above video, at 1:20 minutes, Akash Kulhary can be heard saying that the accused had hidden the dead body but threw it in open when it started smelling. This rules out the possibility that arms and organs were mutilated by stray animals.

Another reason why the possibility of rape cannot be ruled out because one of the accused Aslam had raped his own 4-year-old daughter after which his wife took their daughter that day itself and left for her parent’s home.

Alt News and several other social media users have prematurely declared that there was no sexual assault in Twinkle Sharma's murder case.

ANI UP tweeted that the special investigation team has been appointed with the advanced forensic team under ADG law and order Anand Kumar and superintendent of police rural area along with special operation group. The team will conduct the investigation on a fast track basis and POSCO act is also applied in the case.

Now, the question is if there was no sexual assault then POSCO act has been applied in this case? POSCO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act is applied in the cases of sexual assault on minors.

Conclusion: It will be premature to declare anything at this stage. It is important to remember that the body was decomposed, so even if the lab result comes negative, sexual assault can't be ruled out completely.