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Dumka murder: Jharkhand HC summons DGP, seeks report on details of incident
On August 23, a man named Mohammed Shahrukh, who allegedly was stalking the girl from Jaruadih area poured petrol on the girl from outside the window of her room while she was sleeping
Ranchi: The Jharkhand high court on Tuesday summoned the state’s director general of police (DGP) and sought report in the Dumka school girl death case, even as the state government formed a 10-member special investigation team (SIT) to probe into the incident.
Taking suo motu (on its own) cognisance of the death of the 16-year-old girl by her alleged stalker in Dumka, the division bench of chief justice Dr Ravi Ranjan and justice Sujit Narayan asked the DGP, Neeraj Sinha, who was present in the court, for the status report on the case.
“The hight court also sought details of the medical facilities provided to the victim and if the hospitals she was taken to were equipped to treat burn cases,” said a lawyer who was part of the court proceedings. “The bench directed the DGP to ensure security of her family besides underlining that it will also be monitoring the ongoing investigation in the case.”
On August 23, a man named Mohammed Shahrukh, who allegedly was stalking the girl from Jaruadih area poured petrol on the girl from outside the window of her room while she was sleeping and set her on fire. The teenager, who apparently did not reciprocate his overtures, succumbed to her injuries on Sunday.
The incident led to widespread protests with demands of speedy trial and death penalty for the accused. Two persons, the main accused Shahrukh and his accomplice Naeem Khan, have been arrested in connection with the case till Tuesday afternoon.
According to the direction from chief minister Hemant Soren, the district administration has provided financial support of ₹10 lakh to the girl’s family besides ordering an ADG-rank officer to submit the status report of the ongoing investigation in the case.
Meanwhile, the Jharkhand police on Tuesday instituted an SIT to oversee the case. The 10-member SIT will be headed by the superintendent of police.
“An SIT has been formed which will be headed by the superintendent of police. Seeing the seriousness of the case, supervision will be done by the SP,” said ML Meena, ADG headquarters, who visited Dumka and met family members of the victim. “Till now, two accused have been arrested. Investigation from every aspect is being done.”
The case evoked sharp responses from political parties across the country.
Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra demanded justice for the girl and said the person who committed the crime be punished at the earliest.
“Jharkhand — The incident of ruthless murder of a girl studying in 12th is heart-wrenching. Criminals should be given punishment at the earliest,” Priyanka Gandhi tweeted in Hindi. “For crime prevention and justice, it is necessary that strict and speedy legal process should be completed in incidents of crime against women.”
Her brother Rahul Gandhi added that the death of the teenager following cruelty meted out to her “made every Indian’s head bow in shame”.
Jharkhand Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Deepak Prakash demanded the case be handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to probe the alleged role of Popular Front of India (PFI) — a radical Islamic organisation — in the case.
“The incident which occurred at Dumka has hurt entire Jharkhand and people are very angry. The teenager is not in this world today, but the incident has shocked everyone in the country,” Prakash said. “It is necessary to investigate the matter from all angles including anti-national activities.”
