Police allegedly beat up gangrape survivor, family; High Court orders CBI probe

Gwalior, June 24, 2021: The Madhya Pradesh High Court has ordered a CBI probe into the alleged beating of a minor survivor of gang rape and her family members in a police station apparently to save the accused. The girl and her family are from the Scheduled Caste community.

The bench also directed to register an FIR against the police personnel involved in beating the girl and transfer senior officers involved in saving their subordinates outside the Gwalior-Chambal region. A fine of ₹ 50,000 was also imposed on them which will be paid to the survivor as compensation immediately, news agency PTI reported.

The CBI probe was ordered by Justice GS Ahluwlia hearing a petition filed by the girl. She was allegedly raped on January 31 in the Morar area in the house where she was working as a domestic help and living as a tenant, advocate Anil Mishra told reporters.

The high court also gave liberty to the survivor to file a petition demanding additional compensation, he said.

The house owner’s grandson and his friends allegedly raped the girl after which her family members reached the Morar police station to lodge an FIR for the sexual assault and under the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act.

After registering the FIR, the police personnel allegedly put the survivor and her family members in the police station lock-up and beat them under pressure from the accused, Mishra said. A woman cop shot videos of questioning and beating the girl in the lock-up and circulated them on social media, he alleged.

After the girl recorded her statement under section 164 of CrPC in court, she was allegedly forcibly sent to the One Stop Centre for such survivors by police. Mishra then filed a habeas corpus petition in the court following which she was sent back to her parents, reported PTI.

Though Gwalior SP handed over the probe to woman additional SP rank officer Suman Gurjar and transferred the case to Sirol police station as it was not being investigated properly by the Morar police, the women police officers too did not probe the matter properly and allegedly tried to save the accused, Mishra said.

The high court passed strictures against police officers including the then Morar police station in-charge Ajay Pawar, ASP Gurjar, city superintendent of police (CSP) Ram Naresh Pachori and inspector Preeti Bhargava and directed the state’s police brass to initiate departmental inquiry against them and transfer them outside the Gwalior-Chambal range.

The accused in the case are still at large, the advocate said.

The High Court also directed the police personnel to hand over the entire material related to the case to the CBI and directed the central investigative agency’s director to appoint a senior officer to probe the matter thoroughly.