The investigation into the horrific rape and murder of a young woman in Kerala has been “bungled”, said women and child development (WCD) minister Maneka Gandhi on Tuesday as she unveiled the draft policy on women.

“Everybody has bungled the investigation. Forensic people have just not taken any samples and they have not done their investigation properly,” said Gandhi who added that four member team of the national commission for women had gone to Kerala and “it is based on their report”.

The Dalit woman was allegedly raped and murdered on April 28 inside her house in Perumbavoor in Ernakulam district of Kerala, triggering outrage. The assault bears a resemblance to the December 16, 2012 rape case in Delhi.

The minister said that the mother and sister of the victim spoke of neighbours threatening the young woman with rape and murder and they had reported it to police.

She cited the NCW reports as saying that the investigation in the case was “deliberately botched up because of elections in Kerala”. She added that the NCW has formally gone to the election commission to file a complaint that due to election, this rape victim is unlikely to get justice.

The minister announced the draft report on policy on women, which was released after 15 years. The key feature of the policy is the focus on single women and safety of women.

The policy shift is from that earlier women took whatever was given to them – to entitlement and rights of a woman.
She announced that her ministry is working on a mobile app which will alert 10 people who are located closest to a victim in times of any alarming situation.

“We are going to train all the 2 lakh women sarpanch across India on administration and other aspects of governance to end the practice of husbands dominating them. We are doing it in the batches of 40.”

On Nirbhaya fund, Maneka Gandhi said it was lying unused with the government. “We are going to utilise it for making one stop centre for women in crisis. The cost of one centre will be Rs 18 crore.”