The Calcutta High Court ordered a comprehensive report from Mekhilygunge Police in the case involving the untimely death of a minor girl in Kaliyaganj, West Bengal.
The state police were instructed to submit a progress report on its investigation into the incident by the next day of the hearing, May 2, 2023, by the single judge bench of Justice Rajasekhar Mantha. He also directed for the victim’s post-mortem recording to be saved for future research.
The victim’s father requested that the case be forwarded to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for additional investigation. The state government was then mandated by the court to provide him with copies of the inquest and postmortem reports as well as the FIR in the case.
The deceased was claimed to be raped and tortured to death, according to the petitioner’s attorney, Krishnendu Bhattacharya, who additionally urged that the case be transferred to the CBI because the victim’s parents had lost faith in the state’s probe.
He added that the girl’s family hadn’t received any paperwork from the police yet and asked for a second postmortem because the body had been buried rather than burned to preserve the evidence. In response, the Justice stated that such an appeal is premature at this time.
The National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), which had also sought copies of the FIR, the inquest, and the postmortem report, was permitted by the court to gather information from the police files and the inquiry in accordance with statute.
The girl was reported missing on April 20 and her body was discovered close to a pond the next day, as per the state’s lawyer. He contended that the postmortem report found no signs of sexual assault on the body, but there were indicators of poisoning.
However, he acknowledged that dragging the body was a mistake and informed the court that four policemen had been suspended as a result.
He argued that some people started the commotion and transported the body to a nearby market area where it was intended to be burned. The police then had to remove it so that an autopsy could be performed.
The West Bengal police were subsequently instructed to provide a status report on their investigation into the death by the court.
The 17-year-old victim’s body was discovered floating in a pond on April 21 in Kaliyaganj, North Dinajpur District, West Bengal. She was allegedly raped and murdered. Following grave violence over the incident, internet services have been suspended in West Bengal’s Kaliyaganj community development block until April 30.