HC seeks status report of probe in 9-year-old Dalit girl's rape

New Delhi: In response to a plea filed by the parents of the 9-year-old Dalit girl who was allegedly raped and then forcefully cremated in the Delhi Cantt area, the Delhi High Court has asked the Delhi Police Crime Branch to submit a status report detailing the progress in its investigation so far.

A single-judge bench of Justice Yogesh Khanna passed the order after the parents' counsel, Advocate Jitendra Kumar Jha, argued before the court that the police had delayed the registration of the FIR into the incident and that the parents of the victim were arbitrarily kept at a police station and were threatened and asked to take back their complaint after a compromise.

In the petition, the parents have sought a court-monitored SIT probe in view of the alleged laxity in the police investigation into the case so far.

However, Standing Counsel for Delhi government (Criminal) Sanjay Lao, informed the court that the Crime Branch, under the supervision of DCP(Crime) Monica Bhardwaj, had already formed a Special Investigating Team in the case and that the addition prayer of the petitioners in their plea, which was for their round-the-clock protection, has already been satisfied as they have been already getting police protection throughout the day.

On the issue of administrative lapses, the Lao further told the court that the investigation was at a nascent stage and that the prayer can only be considered once the case goes to trial. Agreeing to the same, and orally noting that since most of the prayers laid out by the petitioners were already satisfied, the court directed the Delhi Police to file a status report in the matter and posted the hearing for November 8.

In their plea, the petitioners have alleged that the police's primary focus has been to "sabotage" the case and that they were "tortured and pressurized by the police for compromising the matter". "That delay in registration of FIR that too under diluted offences itself indicates that the police did not want to give justice to the petitioners," the plea had alleged, asking for a court-monitored SIT

probe.