Even as the number of cases of sexual assault against minors is spiralling up in the city; the inefficient Ludhiana police have exhibited a lackadaisical approach while investigating the case of rape on a nine-year-old girl at EWS Colony on April 6.
The girl, who sank into depression after she was raped by her neighbour in her house at the EWS Colony, has now returned to her native village Saharsa in Bihar where her parents reside. It was only a month ago that she had shifted to Ludhiana.
Police have even failed to record her statements before the magistrate under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) in the past 15 days. They are now chasing her family members pleading with them to send the girl to city.
Statements of the victim before the magistrate are the most crucial aspect of a case and are vital part of the case chargesheet. These statements are to be recorded immediately after the FIR is registered.
The case is likely to suffer, if the police are unable to record her statements, but they Police re still hopeful that the girl will return.
{{/usCountry}}The case is likely to suffer, if the police are unable to record her statements, but they Police re still hopeful that the girl will return.
{{/usCountry}}Division Number 7 station house officer (SHO) Harpal said, “We are in the process of preparing the chargesheet. The vaginal swabs have been sent for forensic examination and after getting the report a chargesheet will be filed. Though the girl’s presence here is required, we will now get statements of her uncle and aunt recorded in the court. We will also request if the girl can be summoned from her village to get her statements recorded.”
The girl was raped on the evening of April 6 by her tenant’s brother-in-law, who was residing barely a few metres away from her cramped quarter in the EWS Colony. There was no female family member in the house to whom she could to immediately narrate her trauma. It was only the following morning that she called her aunt and narrated her plight. The accused, Jai Parkash, is in judicial custody.
“My niece used to wake up in the middle of the night and cry. Her plight would scare us. Some of our relatives were going to our village and so we sent her with them on Wednesday. The girl used to stay alone the one-room house in the crowded locality all day, and remained sad after the incident,” her uncle said.