Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)-led probe into the alleged rape and resultant death of a minor girl at Hanskhali in West Bengal’s Nadia district.
Along with the custody of the accused, all the documents will be handed over to the CBI by the local police. The court’s decision said that in the next hearing (May 2), the CBI will have to submit the report to the court.
“In the circumstances of the case and after considering the legal position, we are of the opinion that in order to conduct an impartial inquiry into the matter and to instil the confidence of the family members of the victim and the residents of the locality and the State, the order passed by the HC Bench of the local police Instead investigation should be done by CBI.
“We direct the state investigating agency to hand over the investigation to the CBI with immediate effect. We find that the investigation suffers from serious lapses on several important aspects,” a bench of Justice R Bhardwaj directed.
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The victim had gone to the birthday party of the accused at her residence in Hanskhali on April 4 and was administered narcotics before she was allegedly raped there.
A day after the incident, the girl died of excessive bleeding following the attack.
The girl was reportedly cremated at the village crematorium without post-mortem or death certificate.
During the hearing, the counsel for the petitioner demanded a CBI inquiry into the matter. According to reports, the accused is the son of a panchayat leader of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC).
According to the petition, the family members of the victim had lodged a complaint at Hanskhali police station on April 9. The family was reportedly silent about the incident due to pressure and threats from the accused and his family members.
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The main accused and one other person have been arrested in this case.
The petitioner’s counsel Anindya Sundar Das claimed that the police came to know about a week after the incident that the force was not functioning properly.