A central panel on the grisly Nithari murders has severely indicted the police and Noida administration for their negligence in handling cases of the missing children from one locality and called for widening the scope of the investigation to cover possibilities of organ trade and sexual exploitation.
The four-member panel submitted its report to Renuka Chowdhury, Minister of State for Women and Child Development on Wednesday. Chowdhury hoped the serial killings that shook the conscience of the nation would serve to draw attention on the necessity to secure the lives of the children.
The minister said she would examine the report by late evening and decide if it should be handed over to the central bureau of investigation that has taken over the case recently.
Chowdhury had constituted the committee a fortnight back with members drawn from different ministries including the home ministry. Two visits to Nithari village and several meetings later, it could not come to a conclusion on the modus operandi and the motive of the crime.
In view of the fact that the CBI is discovering more body parts spread over a larger area, the commission indicated that the agency should investigate the involvement of other people as well. It also drew attention to the need for deeper investigation into the identity of the victims; so far the identification of the victims was only based on the confessions of the accused.
{{/usCountry}}In view of the fact that the CBI is discovering more body parts spread over a larger area, the commission indicated that the agency should investigate the involvement of other people as well. It also drew attention to the need for deeper investigation into the identity of the victims; so far the identification of the victims was only based on the confessions of the accused.
{{/usCountry}}The central government’s committee has also come down on the UP government for its apathy, indifference and negligence in investigating reports of the missing children. “It is surprising that even though the reports of a number of children missing came from just one locality, the police did not take sufficient action for recovering these children,” the committee observed.
The Mulayam Singh Yadav government had dismissed six Noida policemen and suspended two police officers for their negligence. Chowdhury said the policemen were not the only ones to be blamed. “What was the district administration doing? If the police was not registering cases, they should have done something,” an infuriated Chowdhury said.
Email Aloke Tikku: atikku@hindustantimes.com