By IANS,
New Delhi: The central government has ordered an inquiry into allegations by the gang-rape victim’s friend that Delhi Police PCR vans responded late on the night of Dec 16 when the 23-year-old woman was brutally raped by six men.
The probe will be headed by Veena Kumari Meena, joint secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs, an official release said Tuesday.
“The government has ordered an inquiry into the allegations raised by the eyewitness of the gang-rape incident of Dec 16, 2012, regarding late arrival, non-responsive behaviour of PCR vans and other allegations to ascertain the facts and fix accountability for any lapses,” the release said.
It said the probe will also look into the role of the Safdarjung Hospital staff in dealing with the victims.
The release said the inquiry officer, who has been asked to give a detailed report in seven days, will fix responsibility for any lapses.
It said the probe will also look into the fact that the bus in which the crime was committed continued to operate even after being “challaned several times” by Delhi Police, and whether it could have been confiscated and its registration cancelled.
The inquiry will specifically look into how long the PCR vans took to reach the spot, whether they delayed taking action, argued over the jurisdiction of the spot or any such other issue and whether the PCR policemen took all necessary action as warranted.
The gang-rape victim’s friend had told Zee News in an interview that PCR vans arrived at the scene after about 45 minutes, but wasted time in deciding under which police station’s jurisdiction the case fell.
He had also said that he carried his badly-injured friend to the PCR van on his own as the policemen didn’t help them because the girl was bleeding profusely.
Police had filed a case against the channel for revealing the identity of the victim by carrying the interview of her friend.
The victim died Dec 29 in a Singapore hospital.
The panel will also probe the report by a woman journalist in an English daily Sunday in which she narrated her experience of being threatened by an an auto-rickshaw driver and lack of proper response from Delhi Police helpline number 100.
“The role of the Safdarjung Hospital staff in dealing with the victims should also be looked into. The recent newspaper report regarding non-responsiveness of Dial 100 Helpline to a woman reporter should also be specifically looked into and the responsibility be fixed,” the release added.