May 11, 2019:
Police officials failed to follow several rules in investigating a case of gang rape against a Dalit woman in Rajasthan’s Alwar, a preliminary inquiry by the department has found.
The 19-year-old woman was allegedly raped in front of her husband by five men, who filmed the crime and later circulated the video on social media.
The incident occurred on April 26 after the men waylaid the couple and beat up the husband before taking turns to rape the woman.
The victim’s family has said the local police didn't register a case for days although a complaint was lodged on April 29. An FIR was finally registered on May 2 under the Indian Penal Code and Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
The Rajasthan Government removed Alwar’s Superintendent of Police Rajeev Pachar and suspended Thanagazi police station in charge Sardar Singh for their alleged negligence in handling the case. Five other Police Officers have been also been transferred.
The initial inquiry conducted by police headquarters has found that Pachar didn’t follow the provisions of the Rajasthan Police Manual of Departmental Instructions, which provide guidelines for handling special report cases. Any case registered under sections of the SC/ST Act comes under the category of special report case.
“Pachar didn't take the cognizance of the case on the same day when the complainants met him. He should have asked for the immediate report from the station house officer but he didn’t,” a senior police official said on the condition of anonymity.
The SP also failed to register the written details of the case with the designated Special Report Cell, which handles special cases, and gave verbal orders without the mandatory recording of the victim’s complaint. Rules say special report cases must be recorded in the crime digest of the concerned police station by the SP or additional SP.
“In the Alwar gang-rape case, the SP didn’t ensure that the record was entered in the crime digest of the police station on April 30 when the complainants met him and the FIR was registered two days after his verbal orders,” the senior policeman quoted above said.
The senior official also said Pachar didn’t review the factual position of the case and instead of taking immediate action he just gave verbal orders.
“The circle officer was not sent to the spot immediately. In special report cases, the SP has to ensure that the circle officer is sent to the spot immediately after the complaint but here this rule was not followed. Pachar came to know about the incidence on April 30 but the DSP came to know about it on May 3.”
Pachar also didn’t initiate action against the then Thanagazi police station in-charge Sardar Singh, who had refused to register a case after the incident.
SHO Sardar Singh, according to the preliminary inquiry, didn’t file an FIR immediately but accused the victim of registering a fake case without any prior investigation or fact-finding.
“Another shortcoming was that in such crime cases, the major evidence is semen, sweat, minor hairs, minor injury marks on genitals etc. But here the SHO lodged the case six days after the incident and medical examination of the victim was also conducted after seven days. So there are many possibilities of evidence getting destroyed,” the police officer said.
The inquiry has found that Singh was at fault because he lodged a complaint only on May 2 despite the verbal instructions of Pachar on April 30.
Director general of police (DGP) Kapil Garg admitted the police officers failed to follow the rules to be adhered to in such cases.
“In special report case, a report should be immediately issued to the circle officer. To verify this point further, a deputy inspector general rank officer from police headquarters is doing enquiry in this case,” Garg said.
When asked whether a case under Section 166(A) and Section 4 of the SC/ST Act would be lodged against Pachar and Singh, Garg said, ”After the outcome of the final inquiry, the further course of action would be decided.”
The state coordinator of Human Rights Law Network Tarachand Verma, who met the victim also said crucial evidence was destroyed as there was a delay in conducting the medical examination of the victim.
“According to section 166(A), whoever, being a public servant, fails to record any information given to him in relation to cognizable offences such as acid attack, rape, use of criminal force against women, sexual exploitation, insult to modesty of women, can be punished with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than six months, but which may extend to two years, and shall also be liable to fine,” Verma, who is also a lawyer, said.
Police have arrested six accused identified as Chhote Lal Gurjar, Hansraj Gurjar, Mahesh Gurjar, Indraj Gurjar, Ashok Gurjar and Mukesh Gurjar.
The Congress-led Government has been under fire from the opposition BJP after a spate of rape and abduction cases in the last one month.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has accused the Congress Government of hiding the Alwar gang-rape case, saying it feared a political fallout during the ongoing elections.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has also asked the Ashok Gehlot-led government earlier this week to reply within six weeks on its “slow response” in the case.
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