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Scarlett Keeling was found dead on a beach in the coastal state of Goa on February 18. Her passport shows she was 15 years old.
Police originally said Keeling had drowned after taking drugs, but changed their story after Keeling's mother complained and a second autopsy suggested she had been raped and murdered.
They also arrested a man suspected of raping Keeling and were questioning him for more leads.
On Tuesday, senior police officers said they did not doubt Keeling's age, but were only trying to prove her age scientifically.
"We do not want to take any more chances, as tomorrow someone might say that Scarlett was not a teenager," Bosco Jorge, a senior police officer told Reuters from Goa.
"Once forensic experts have done their job, we will hand over her body to the family for burial," he said by telephone.
Keeling's mother, Fiona MacKeown, who always insisted her daughter had been raped and killed, wrote to the government saying the police did not ask for her permission to conduct new tests.
"They want to violate her body again without any reason," Vikram Varma, MacKeown's lawyer, told Reuters from Goa. "We have strongly protested and asked them not to carry out further tests as they have already done two autopsies."
Her mother argued with police officers that they could not ignore documentary evidence of Scarlett's age as given in the passport, Varma said.
"Normally ossification tests are carried only on unidentified bodies, but they are stretching this too far," Varma said on behalf of MacKeown.
Indian media said there may have been an attempt to play down the death.
Goa's tourism minister, Francisco X. Pacheco, said the police had deliberately covered up the murder to hush up their failure.
Keeling's case is the latest to highlight the safety of tourists in India. Tourism officials met this year to discuss attacks on tourists after at least seven foreign women and girls said they had been raped or molested.
"We are worried at the recent events and have set up a special police force to protect tourists," Ambika Soni, India’s tourism minister, said in parliament on Tuesday.
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RatingThe policeman: Bosco Jorge (Christian). Goa Tourism minister: Francisco X. Pacheco (Christian). The lawyer on other side: Vikram Varma (Hindu).Obviously the guys they are covering up is one of the selazy Christian politician/ church pastor/ secular person. I doubt, given that Sonia, Manmohan, and other secular Congressis and Commies and Christians and Muslims who are ruling now, this case will ever be solved.
AS REQUESTED BY THE MOTHER OF THE MURDERED GIRL, THE CASE SHOULD BE HANDED OVER TO CBI AS THE GOAN POLICE HAS SHOWN HOW ROTTEN THEY ARE.FIRST THE INSPECTOR GRNERAL OF POLICE SHOULD BE QUESTIONED AS WHAT DOES HE DO WHOLE DAY AND HOW IN A SMALL PLACE LIKE GOA HE DOES NOT KNOW WHAT IS HAPPENING. HERE A LADY HAS TO COME ALL THE WAY TO TEACH THESE INCOMPETENT INDIAN POLICE AS HOW TO INVESTIGATE AND GUIDE THEM TO FINALLY BOOK THE SUICIDE AS MURDER. WHAT FOR THE IGP IS PAID SALARY, TO LOOK AS SPECTATORS WHEN RAPE LOOT MURDER IS GOING ON UNDER THEIR VERY NOSE. THE HOME DEPARTMENT FIRST TASK IS TO CALL THE IGP AND SUSPEND HIM WHICH WILL ACT AS DETERRENT.NO DOUBT THE POLICE WILL GO TO ALL THE EXTENT TO SEE THAT IT PROVED AS SUICIDE BY HOOK OR CROOK AS THEY ALL BELONG TO THAT BAND.
Goa Police are the most corrupt in the coutry but rich. Most are the slaves of the corrupt politicians who are ivolved in land grabbing and selling rackets. Point out which of the police officer not as rich as a businessmen who struggle night and day doing business? The total police force of Goa are ineffecient and corrupt, unfit and good at wagging tail rather than solving crime incidents. When it comes to law ad order, they always failed. They are good to extort money from foreigners, tourists and the matka bookies.
Fire all the cops involved in this investigationimmediately.
This is ridiculous! Does Goa police have any idea that by adopting any such tactic, they would be able to divert attention from how incompetent a bunch are they? Steps like this would make goa police in particular and indian police in general a laugh riot for the whole world. How come the fact of scarlett being a teenager or not matters when she is raped and killed. It would have mattered when she would have consensual *** and the question would have been that whether she is legally allowed to consent or not.Also being a medical professional myself, I know that these tests can not pin point the age, they can only give a range, which is not going to help either.I wish somebody out there in Goa has got some sense to stop that or else UK media would rip them apart.As though rape and murder of a tourist was not enough.
Incidents like Keeling's send out a negative message about India. The police must act firmly against people who target foreign tourists, especially women, and prevent crimes. what is happening is that police try to cover their failures by misrepresenting facts.If Keeling's mother desires a CBI probe, there is no reason why it should not be done. There is a strong need to make India a safe place if it has to earn from tourism.
Dear Ambika Soni,Why special police force to protect the tourist only? Don't the population of the country deserve the highest standard of policing, protection and care?
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