Overview
- State forensic experts collected samples from the cowshed where the 12-year-old was allegedly confined and thrashed, and they inspected the adjoining shop linked to an accused woman.
- Police said suspected poison samples tied to the boy’s alleged ingestion had already been secured from the orchard area and that a preliminary postmortem remains inconclusive.
- An FIR was initially registered for abetment to suicide on September 20, and SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act sections were added on September 26 against three women, including Pushpa Devi.
- Pushpa Devi obtained interim bail before the atrocity charges were added, and her counsel disputes the family’s claim that a goat was demanded to ‘purify’ the house.
- Dalit groups and the Himachal Pradesh Scheduled Caste Commission pressed top state officials for arrests and a fair probe, and the CPI(M) warned of statewide protests on October 6.