| Justice for Sheilu and Divya
During the last few months, in Uttar Pradesh two very serious offences have come to light in which innocent minor girls have been raped and molested in the most brutal manner by powerful and influential people.
In one case, a girl named Divya (from Kanpur city) was violently assaulted and raped on 27th September, 2010 and she died because of this in the school campus itself. Tragically, this dastardly and shameful act was done by the son of the Manager of the school in which she studied. Even more shameless and brazen was the way the Kanpur police behaved in this case. While Divya's mother named the Manager's son as the accused in the very beginning, they arrested a neighbour of Divya's family and framed this person as being the rapist and murderer. They also planted a story that this man was Divya's illicit lover who had now shifted his eyes to the minor girl. It was only after a lot of hoopla and protest that the case got transferred to CB-CID, the superior investigating body in Uttar Pradesh. During the investigation done by CB-CID, it found that the Manager's son himself was the rapist and murderer. He has now been arrested and is in jail at the moment. A few police officers, including the Additional SP of Kanpur have been suspended and an enquiry has been ordered against the then DIG, to be conducted by Sri Brij Lal, the Additional DG (Law/Order and Crime) in UP. A case has also been registered by CB-CID against the Inspector of local Kalyanpur police station for fabricating false evidence.
In the second case, the girl called Sheelu (from district Banda) was supposedly gang-raped on 12th December, 2010 by a MLA from the ruling party, Bahujan Samaj Party. But, instead of getting her case registered and taking appropriate legal actions against the accused, the Uttar Pradesh Police got a case of theft registered against the same girl and sent her to jail. It was only after much hue and cry that a case has finally been registered against the MLA and he has been arrested. This too happened after the State government itself intervened and the Cabinet Secretary of the State himself made announcements of registration of rape case and arrest of the MLA. Possibly the girl will also get released in a day or two. Thus this case of rape got registered after passing of so many days, that too when the entire State rose in this matter. Possibly some action against the local police officers will also be taken.
Thus apparently it seems that justice have been done in both these cases. But the fact is that the real justice is still far away. In both these cases, there are many related issues-
1. In both cases, there are powerful people who are the culprits. In the first case, it is the Manager of a school and his son, possibly associated with the ruling Party and in second he is a ruling Party MLA.
2. In both cases, the local police is completely hands in gloves with the accused and has aided and assisted these accused in the most shameless and filthy manner.
3. In both cases, the real accused are not the local police but Sri Karamvir Singh, the Director General of Police and Sri Brij Lal, the Additional DG (Law/Order and Crime). They are the top ranking officers of the State and are responsible of proper functioning of the State Police. But in both these cases, they have not only failed in performing their duty, but have actually actively aided and assisted in the crime later committed by the local Police, where it shielded the real culprits and acted against innocent people. In both the cases, these two officers got to know of the incidence and its details almost immediately. They not only kept quite (omission of their duty) but also actively acted by instructing the local officers to perform illegal acts.
In the first case, while the entire media and political parties make huge protests and presented the real facts (that later proved to be absolutely true), asking for a CB-CID enquiry but both Sri Singh and Sri Lal kept sitting on the matter deliberately and intentionally. Finally when the State government intervened ordering the CB-CID enquiry, some justice was done in the matter.
In the second case, the situation is even worse. Both Sri Karamvir Singh and Sri Brij Lal came to know of the complaint made by the girl (through the local officers, the Media and other channels) almost immediately, but they deliberately kept quiet and did not act upon the matter as was required from them as a part of their duty. Instead of getting the FIR registered, as the basic part of their duty, they waited for the State government to take action.
This being the position of the senior most officers of UP Police, there does not seem to be any hope of justice. Institute for Research and Documentation and Social Sciences (IRDS), a non-government organization has initiated a campaign called "Justice for Sheelu and Divya" which shall remain associated with these two cases till the time final justice is delivered.
Recognizing the fact that justice was delayed and denied to these two hapless girls because of the intentional omission of their described duty by the DGP and ADG(Law/order and crime), we demand immediate action against Sri Karamvir Singh and Sri Bril Lal for dereliction of their duty. At the same time, we shall be filing a PIL for getting suitable criminal cases registered against these two officers for either directing the subordinate police officers for the criminal conduct they got engaged in or at least being passive observer of the crime being committed when it was their duty to intervene and act. We shall also be requesting the High Court to get the cases transferred to CBI, because of the involvement of the top Police officers of the State.
Dr Nutan Thakur,
Secretary,
IRDS,
Lucknow
# 94155-34525 |
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