Ranchi/Hazaribag, March 30 The Jharkhand High Court on Monday took suo motu cognizance of the alleged rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl in the Hazaribag district.
The court also served notices to the state home secretary, director, and the director-general of police, as well as the superintendent of police of Hazaribagh, to respond to the matter.
The court of Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad and Justice Anubha Rawat Choudhary took cognizance of a newspaper report of March 29 about the rape and brutal murder of the victim.
Advocate Hemant Kumar Shikarwar took up the matter in court and informed the bench that the police had not yet made any arrests. He said that the victim's mother, who works as a daily wage laborer in a brick kiln, is being threatened to tamper with evidence in the case.
Considering the sensitivity of the issue, particularly the commission of rape on a female child and causing injury to her body parts, particularly her private parts and her tongue, the high court took serious note of the matter.
The court directed the Hazaribagh SP to appear online, upon which SP Anjani Anjan appeared through virtual mode.
Anjan informed that no arrests had been made and an investigation was being conducted.
The court directed the SP to specifically explain why, even after five days of lodging the FIR, the perpetrator had not been arrested.
According to police, the girl had gone with her mother to watch the 'Mangla' procession, a rally taken out as part of Ram Navami rituals, at her native village under the Bishnugarh police station limits on the night of March 24.
Her family alleged in the FIR that she was abducted, and her body was found on March 25 at a field in the village.
Jharkhand DGP Tadasha Mishra had on Sunday said that a three-member SIT has been constituted for a swift probe into the case.
The SIT is mandated to submit a progress report, along with details regarding the action taken thus far, within a week.
Meanwhile, the opposition BJP staged a 12-hour bandh in Hazaribag to protest against the incident.
There were no untoward incidents reported from anywhere in the district, officials said.
The bandh evoked a mixed response. Shops and other retail outlets remained closed in the district, largely due to the weekly closure of wholesalers, while public transport services operated normally as educational institutions and commercial establishments, including banks, remained open.
Hazaribag MP Manish Jaiswal said that the bandh was successful, as traders voluntarily shut their shops for the cause.
BJP state president Aditya Sahu said it would press for a Jharkhand bandh on April 3, if the administration failed to nab the culprits in the next two days.
Members of the Jharkhand BJP women's wing also staged a demonstration in Ranchi, seeking justice for the girl.
"Law and order has deteriorated in the state and women's safety is at stake," general secretary of the wing, Seema Singh, alleged.
Jharkhand Finance minister Radhakrishna Kishore visited the victim's family in Hazaribag.
The minister said that a compensation of Rs 1 lakh is being given to the family for now. It would be increased after a discussion with the chief minister.
Kishore said that he directed the Deputy Commissioner of Hazaribag to rehabilitate the family and linked the members with government welfare schemes.
In Jamshedpur, saffron party leaders demonstrated in front of the East Singhbhum district collectorate.
A delegation of the BJP Jamshedpur Mahanagar Mahila Morcha also submitted a memorandum addressed to the Jharkhand Governor, demanding the immediate arrest of the perpetrators.
Congress leaders Amba Prasad and Yogendra Sao, along with party supporters, also held a protest demonstration at the Zila Parishad Chowk in Hazaribag.
Hazaribag Chamber of Commerce and Industries president Shambhu Nath Agarwal said that though there was a weekly closure of shops and wholesalers in the district on Monday, several traders voluntarily downed shutters.
"It is a heinous crime, and we had appealed to the shopkeepers to express solidarity with the bandh," said Agarwal.
