The National Human Rights Commission today released a statement on the on-going investigation of the Moradabad gang rape case. The Commission has asked the Uttar Pradesh government to submit proof of payment to the victim as relief alongside a compliance review of its recommendations to protect the fundamental rights of victims of heinous crimes, reports MANYA SAINI.
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THE National Human Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has asked the Uttar Pradesh government to submit proof of payment to the victim of gang rape in district Moradabad, which the Commission had sanctioned but apparently not released.
The recommendations of the Commission include disciplinary action against officers accused of negligence, deployment of lady police officers in all stations alongside a list of the police stations where there is no female police officer and registering a case against officials who refused to file the FIR alleging rape.
Earlier, the investigating division of the Commission had discovered that police personnel did not register the case until the court intervened. This caused 1-1/2 months delay in the registration of the case by the Police.
The incident occurred on 18th November 2018, when several men barged into the woman's house and raped her in broad daylight. According to the statement, when she was discovered and released, the officials at the Civil Lines police station, Moradabad refused to register the complaint for over a month.
The delay in the investigation led to the destruction of crucial evidence, according to the Commission. The NHRC alleged that this was a grievous violation of the victim's human rights.
An FIR against 6 accused persons has been registered as of now, with the final report of the investigation being submitted before the court. However, the complainant had filed an objection petition in court due to which it had ordered the police personnel to reinvestigate the case.
The state government had found significant negligence on the part of the authorities in their handling of the case and had therefore accepted the recommendation of the Commission announcing a compensatory relief of Rs. 2 lakh to the victim. However, the NHRC found that there was no conclusive action on the other recommendations of its report and has therefore asked the UP government to confirm compliance.
(Manya Saini is a journalism student at the Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication, Pune, and an intern with The Leaflet.)