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The Jharkhand High Court on Tuesday, 30 August, took cognisance of the recent incident, in which a class 12 student died after being set on fire, and summoned the DGP, seeking a report on the matter. The high court also instructed that the girl's family should be provided adequate security.
The chief justice of the high court also told the DGP to take action against the police officer (DSP) who had stated that the accused is mentally retarded. The court said that it will monitor the process of investigation.
Further, the Child Welfare Committee of Jharkhand’s Dumka district on Tuesday said that the student was a minor and demanded action under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012.
The CWC said that according to her class 10 board examination marksheet, the girl was around 16 years old and, hence, was a minor, the police claimed.
A four-member CWC team met the victim’s family on Monday and procured her marksheet.
Earlier, the police had claimed that in a statement, given before a magistrate, the deceased had said that she was 19 years old.
Meanwhile, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said that the family of the deceased Jharkhand teenager will get justice only if the perpetrators of the heinous act are given the strictest punishment.
A 10-member probe team, headed by Crime Investigation Department DSP Sandeep Kumar Gupta, arrived at the girl's residence with members from the CID, the Forensic Science Laboratory, and the Finger Print bureau.
Gupta said, "We are collecting evidence from the site which will be later presented before the court. We received an order to come here yesterday."
Meanwhile, a Special Investigation Team (SIT), headed by the superintendent of police, has been constituted to probe the case, ANI quoted Jharkhand Police ADG (HQ) ML Meena as saying.
The victim had said that the accused called her on her cell phone around 10 days ago, pestering her to become his friend.
The accused again called the victim on her phone on 22 August and threatened to kill her if she did not talk to him. She then informed her father about the threat and he assured her that he would talk to the man's family on Tuesday, 23 August.
After the family had their dinner, they went to sleep. The victim was sleeping in another room.
"My parents doused the fire and took me to the hospital," the victim had earlier told the police.
(With inputs from ANI.)
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