Minor rape and murder: Calcutta HC seeks report from Mamata govt

While hearing the petition of the victim's father for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe in the matter, Calcutta High Court's single-judge bench of Justice Rajasekhar Mantha also directed the state government to furnish a copy of the said report to the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights.

Kolkata:A single-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court on Thursday afternoon sought a report from the West Bengal government on the rape and murder of a minor girl at Kaliaganj in North Dinajpur district. The girl's body was found by the local people on April 21. While hearing the petition of the victim's father for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe in the matter, Calcutta High Court's single-judge bench of Justice Rajasekhar Mantha also directed the state government to furnish a copy of the said report to the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR).

As per the order by Justice Mantha, the video recording and pictures of the post-mortem process of the victim's body have to be restored. The counsel for the petitioner argued in the court that the victim's body was dragged by policemen. "The victim's family is yet to be provided with the post-mortem report. The last rites are yet to be conducted. In such a situation it is virtually impossible to rely on a probe by the state police," the petitioner's counsel argued.

Already, the state government has suspended four policemen in the rank of assistant sub-inspectors for dragging the body of the victim.
The state government counsel informed the court that on April 20, the victim as well as local youth had gone missing. "The police started searching for them. The next day the body of the victim was found beside a pond in the area," the State government counsel said.

He also said that the victim's family members did not cooperate with the police and instead started agitating and even tried to cremate the body. He also said that the post-mortem report suggests that poison traces were there in the body and there was no sign of rape. After hearing both sides, Justice Mantha said that the court will look into the matter while asking the state government to submit a detailed report both to the court as well and to the NCPCR.