By IANS,
Lucknow : Even as the Uttar Pradesh government ordered a police probe into the alleged rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl who was found hanging from a tree inside a police station compound, the opposition demanded an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Chief Minister Mayawati late Sunday had also ordered a second autopsy of the victim’s body after allegations that the earlier report was doctored by policemen who called it a case of suicide.
Criminal cases have been registered against three policemen. The government also denied that the girl was raped.
Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh demanded a CBI inquiry into the incident.
“Congress has raised this issue, we don’t trust the state police and we demand a CBI probe. The whole staff should be removed and case should be registered against those guilty,” he added.
The victim’s body was found hanging at the Nighasan police station in Lakhimpur-Kheri district, 130 km from Lucknow, Friday night. The girl was residing in hutments raised in one corner of the police station compound where her father was engaged as a construction labourer.
Eleven policemen were suspended for their prima facie “dereliction of duty”. Now criminal cases have been registered against a sub-inspector and two constables for “destruction of evidence”.
Earlier in the day, divisional commissioner Prashant Trivedi told reporters in Lakhimpur-Kheri: “The case has been handed over to the crime branch of the crime investigation department (CID) and they have been asked to submit their report within a week’s time.”
The Mayawati administration has come under fire from different political quarters, specially as the girl’s father, Intezar Ali, has pointedly accused policemen of having gangraped and murdered the girl.
Following this, divisional commissioner Trivedi and zonal inspector general of police Subesh Kumar Singh rushed to Lakhimpur-Kheri.
“The first autopsy report says that there is no rape, no injury mark found at any visible or not visible part of body,” said Subesh Singh.
He said a swab report has been collected from the body and has been sent for further forensic tests.
Singh also denied any “cover-up” by the government.
He accepted that there was “some negligence and some failure” in the first post-mortem report. “That’s why we have ordered another autopsy,” he said.
“There is no question of a cover up. Inquiry has been set up and we will punish the guilty people,” he told a TV channel.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) is reported to have sent its own team from Delhi to probe the matter.
In New Delhi, Women and Child Development Minister Krishna Tirath said she is writing to the Uttar Pradesh chief minister on the alleged rape and murder of the girl.
Also, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), an apex body that champions child rights in the country, asked the state government to arrest all the policemen present in the police station when the incident occurred.