The National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has decided to submit a report to Home Minister Amit Shah over the death of a 17-year-old girl in Kaliaganj in West Bengal’s Uttar Dinajpur district and the “shoddy investigation” by the State Police.
The West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights (WBCPCR), however, dismissed Kanoongo’s allegations and alleged he was attempting to “politicise the matter”. “Mr Kanoongo is here with a political motive. His allegations are absolutely baseless. He is trying to politicise the matter and misdirect the victim’s family,” WBCPCR chairperson Ananya Chakraborti said. A video, which had gone viral on social media platforms, shows cops dragging the body of the minor girl. However, BJP leaders slammed the Bengal Police for “insensitively dragging” the body of the young girl. “In this video, the body West Bengal Police is insensitively dragging is that of a minor rape and murder victim from the Rajbongshi community in Uttar Dinajpur’s Kaliaganj. Such haste is often seen when the purpose is to eliminate or dilute evidence and cover up the crime,” BJP leader Amit Malviya had tweeted. Meanwhile, four police officers, all in the rank of Assistant Police Sub Inspectors (ASIs), were on suspended, police said. Of the four ASIs, three are from Kaliaganj Police Station and one is from Raiganj Police Station. “We have suspended four ASIs for dragging the body of the minor girl on April 21,” the officer said. Rajbongshi is a tribe in North Bengal and Arun Haldar, the vice-chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, rushed to Kaliaganj and alleged that the District Magistrate and the Superintendent of Police were neglecting the case. He vowed to use “his constitutional powers to summon the DM, SP, IGP, DG and Chief Secretary to New Delhi within three days to give their explanations. If they do not present themselves, then we will use our powers to arrest them and bring them to Delhi.” NCPCR chairperson Priyank Kanoongo on Monday said that the team of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), which visited the Kaliaganj area where violent protests broke out after the girl’s body was found in a canal on Friday, had to face “all sorts of non-cooperation” from the State administration. Kanoongo said, “I am going to file a report with Home Minister Amit Shah after I return to Delhi. There are serious lapses on part of the Raiganj Police in investigating the girl’s death. I fear that evidence may be tampered with because of the dilly-dallying by the police. I believe the Mamata Banerjee Government is trying to save the culprits.” He claimed that he had to wait for nearly 22 hours before he could meet the investigating officer of the case. “I could talk to only one doctor who was present during the autopsy while the others were sent to Kolkata,” he added. Kanoongo claimed that the police have been trying to project the girl’s death as suicide, but it is quite a hard thing to believe. “I have seen her mark sheets and spoken to her family. She was a very bright student. It is quite hard to believe that she died by suicide,” he said. “According to what the family told me, the suspects appear to be infiltrators who have unlawfully settled down,” Kanoongo told journalists. Police said they have filed a case under section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, and arrested a man and his father based on a complaint filed by the girl’s family.
