Police in Paro are waiting for the DNA analysis result to confirm the rape of an 11-year-old speech-impaired girl.

The DNA of the girl, the stepfather and the 68-year-old man, who the victim’s mother initially alleged as the rapist, were sent to Kolkata, India.

Police sources said that with inconsistent and inconclusive reports, it is difficult to come to a conclusion.

It was learnt that medical officials from Paro hospital and the forensic department of Jigme Dorji Wangchuck National Referral Hospital (JDWNRH) gave contradicting reports on when the crime occurred.

“The DNA analysis will determine the result,” a source said.

It was also learnt that the remand order for the victim’s stepfather and her 16-year-old elder sister, who were detained, were cancelled.

Questions were raised from an anonymous account in a forum of a social media site, Facebook, on why the stepfather and the elder sister were detained and why the 68-year-old man was not detained.

Police maintained that the detention was lawful and they have reasons for not arresting the 68-year-old man.

A source said that there are medical reports and other strong circumstantial evidence indicating that the man was innocent. “It’s not correct to detain people just because there are accusations.”

Police, however, said that while they are trying to find out who wrote the anonymous post, people aggrieved by their action should go to court. “We will be answerable to the state and if the matter reaches court, it is our duty to explain why the man was not arrested,” an official said.

Meanwhile, the alleged rape case surfaced when the 68-year-old man, who runs a shop in a village in Paro, complained to police on July 14 about a false accusation of rape against him by the victim’s 33-year-old mother.

The mother claimed that she found the victim, who is usually locked inside the house, weeping by a roadside with an edible when she went missing after latching them inside the house.

The mother said the victim told her she was raped by a meme (an old man) and when she confronted the 68-year-old shop owner, asking him if he gave the edible to her daughter, he charged her of accusing him of the rape.

However, the shop owner said the woman gave inconsistent statements when she came to confront him, alleging him of giving edibles to her daughter and when they found she bought the edibles from a nearby shop, she claimed she saw him holding her daughter’s hand.

Sources in Paro also said that while the mother stressed the victim was bleeding when she found her by the roadside, there was no bloodstain on the clothes the victim was wearing when the alleged incident happened.

It was learnt that the mother changed the statement later. Sources also said the mother kept changing her statements.

Tashi Dema