While strongly criticizing police in Haryana’s Gurugram district over the alleged rape of a four-year-old girl, the Supreme Court on Wednesday questioned why action had not been taken against those responsible, claiming that “all-out” efforts had been made to protect the accused.
A four-year-old girl was allegedly sexually assaulted by two domestic helpers along with their male partner for about two months in a society in Sector 54, according to news agency PTI quoting police.
The Supreme Court was hearing the case and learned that the judge recorded the survivor’s statements in the presence of the accused.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalia Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi was hearing the matter.
Criticizing the Gurugram police, the Supreme Court said: “It is a blatant case in which the police have made all-out efforts to protect the accused. An unwarranted report has been submitted… We doubt their academic or professional qualifications or their ability to provide any valuable assistance in such matters.”
The Supreme Court ordered the Haryana government to urgently notify the Special Investigation Team and asked the Gurugram Police to hand over the case records by Thursday.
On March 20, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the petition seeking a CBI or SIT probe into the rape of a four-year-old girl in Gurugram.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday constituted a three-member Special Investigation Team, including Haryana cadre and women IPS officers, to probe the three-year-old girl’s rape case.
CJI tears into Gurugram police
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi had said in the previous hearing on March 23 that the minor was taken to the police station and then to the Child Welfare Committee, where the police personnel were in uniform. Furthermore, she was interrogated in front of the defendants who were standing four feet away from her, he claimed.
Judge Bagchi described the alleged lapses as “the worst form of disrespect for the victim”, while the International Investigative Committee attacked officials, saying: “You do not believe a 4-year-old child shown on CCTV! Shame on them! If the state respects the law, it will transfer them! The moment we receive knowledge, you start arresting!” According to LiveLaw.
High insensitivity was shown in this case, the CJI said.
The presiding judge asked who appointed the members of the Committee for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, saying they acted as if the victim was “a table or a chair.” They should have gone to her house,” said CJI Kant.
The way the family and the child were subjected to harassment! The child went through an even more terrifying experience after what happened to her. Repeated victimization!” LiveLaw quoted CJI Kant as saying.
Criticizing the investigating officials for “total recklessness”, the CJI expressed displeasure over the disclosure of the victim’s identity in all the attached documents.
“The trauma and ordeal the child has been exposed to has been compounded [due to] The insensitive, reckless, irresponsible and completely illegal method of investigation adopted by Gurugram Police. The report by members of the Chemical Weapons Convention exacerbated the abuse. The entire police force, from the CP to the SI, has made every attempt… However, the facts recorded in the affidavit or the report of the Judicial Magistrate leave no room for doubt that an offense under Section 6 of the POCSO Act has apparently been committed,” the law portal quoted the order.
