Bengal Police Directed To File Progress Report In Probe Over Teen’s Death: Calcutta HC

The Calcutta High Court today directed West Bengal police to file a progress report on its probe into the unnatural death of a minor girl at Kaliaganj in the Uttar Dinajpur district.

Also, the court directed the state government to hand over the girl’s father copies of the post-mortem and inquest reports and FIR in the case after he petitioned for the transfer of the probe into the death to the CBI.

Also, it directed that the videography of the post-mortem of the girl should be properly preserved.

Justice Rajashekhar Mantha directed the state police to file the progress report on its investigation into the incident by the next date of hearing on May 2.

Therefore, the petitioner’s counsel Krishnendu Bhattacharya claimed that the girl was sexually assaulted and gagged to death and prayed that the investigation be transferred to the CBI as her parents have no faith in a probe by the state authorities.

The girl’s family is yet to receive any document from the police, he said, and prayed for a 2nd postmortem as the body hasn’t been cremated but buried to preserve evidence.

To this Justice Mantha held that the prayer was premature at this stage.

The court stated that the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), which prayed to be supplied with copies of the inquest and post-mortem reports and the FIR, may obtain from the police documents with regard to the death of the girl and the probe as per statute.

The state’s lawyer submitted that the 17-year-old girl was reported to have gone missing on April 20 and also that her body was found near a pond a day later.

Therefore, there was no sign of sexual assault on the body as per the post-mortem report but there were signs of poisoning on the body, he said.

However, the state lawyer admitted that it was a mistake to have dragged the body and told the court that 4 policemen were suspended for it. Claiming that, some people raised a hue and cry over the issue and took the body to a nearby marketplace for burning it, the state lawyer stated that the police take it away in order to conduct a postmortem.