The Supreme Court will hear Monday a plea by a Gurgaon parent seeking the transfer of the investigation into the alleged sexual assault on his three-year-old daughter to an independent or specialised agency such as the CBI.
The matter was mentioned by Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi before Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant Friday.
In the plea filed on March 17, the child’s father said that despite the gravity of the offence, the Gurgaon Police had made no “meaningful investigative progress” and no arrests.
According to the FIR registered on February 4, the child was subjected to repeated sexual assault during December and January by two female domestic helps and an unidentified male accomplice in the family’s home in a highrise residential complex, sources said.
The petition states that the child had identified the accused women on multiple occasions, including before the police and a magistrate. The male accused is the husband of one of the women, it says.
The petition has alleged that police did not take steps such as seizing mobile phones, collecting forensic evidence from the identified room and residences of the women, analysing CCTV footage, recording witness statements, or tracing the alleged male accomplice.
After the police allegedly failed to take action, the parents filed a monitoring petition before a district court on February 11, says the petition. Police then submitted status reports to the court, the petition has said.
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The petition has alleged that the Investigating Officer (IO) had actively tried to dissuade the child’s mother from filing the FIR. Later, on March 16, the family had come to know that this same IO had been suspended for seeking a bribe of Rs 25,000 to settle a different case of sexual assault, the petition says.
In the Supreme Court, Rohatgi told CJI Surya Kant, who was presiding over a three-judge Bench: “The child was taken to hospital. She recounted the whole thing. She was sent to a magistrate where she recounted what happened. An Investigation Officer is appointed who was then suspended on corruption charge in some other case. After pointing out all these, there is no arrest. There is no securing the site. She (the child) pointed out the place in the society where it happened, but no securing of site, new CCTV taken.”
He added, “The parents are running from pillar to post. Not a thing has happened in four weeks. These people came to me yesterday and I have prepared an Article 32 petition. It requires immediate attention by this court. A message has to go.”
The CJI asked, “What is the direction you’re seeking from us?”
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Rohatgi replied: “Remove the Gurugram Police. They have done nothing. Hand it over to the CBI or whatever your Lordship desires or or an SIT under the directions of the Supreme Court and the Chief Justice of India.”
When the CJI asked if he had approached the Punjab & Haryana High Court, Rohatgi said he had not. “I have come to your Lordship. It is a matter of great concern. A message has to go from this court, the highest court.”
The court then said it would list the matter for hearing on March 23.
The parents told The Indian Express Friday they had finally decided to move the Supreme Court when they heard that the IO had been arrested for taking a bribe to fix another case of sexual assault.
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“What else do the police need [to act]? I have been running around for 6-7 weeks. My daughter is currently under psychiatric care. The mental state of everyone at home is in shambles,” the child’s father said.
The area DCP, a respondent in the plea, was not available for comment.
The lead Inspector of the police station, where the FIR was filed, said that the investigation was ongoing, and no arrests had been made because no significant incriminating evidence had been found so far.
Police officers familiar with the investigation said all the accused had been questioned, and CCTV footage examined.
