Uttarakhand High Court
Taking suo motu cognisance of newspaper reports on the rape and murder of a minor girl in Hitanu village in Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi district, the Uttarakhand High Court, on Tuesday directed the state government to form Special Investigation Teams (SITs) within 48 hours to investigate ‘sensitive matters’, including rape.
On Friday night, a 11-year-old girl was kidnapped from her house in a village about 20 kilometres from Uttarkashi district headquarters. The same night she was raped near her house and was subsequently strangled to death.
“The Principal Secretary (Home) to the State of Uttarakhand is directed to constitute SITs in all the Districts of Uttarakhand within 48 hours,” The Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Rajiv Sharma and Justice Manoj K. Tiwari stated in the order, with further instructions to mandatorily make the concerned Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), or the Superintendent of Police (SP), Circle Officer, a female Inspector, a psychologist, and a woman social worker as part of the SITs in all 13 districts.
For rape cases and the cases filed under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the court directed the Trial Courts across the state to ensure ‘speedy trial’.
On January 5, this year, the Uttarakhand High Court had recommended the state government to enact a ‘suitable legislation’ to give death sentence to the ones found guilty of raping girls aged 15 years or below.
However, on Tuesday, the court said, “This court had already directed the state government to consider amendment in the law for imposing death penalty upon persons convicted of rape upon minors. The state government, till date, has not made its stand clear in the matter.”
On Monday night, the Uttarkashi police arrested a 22-year-old labourer for the rape and murder of the minor. Bunty, who worked in a village near the victim’s village, used to stalk the victim’s elder sister who is 16-years-old. Uttarkashi Station Officer Inspector Mahadev Uniyal said that Bunty had accepted to having committed the crimes.
“Bunty would stalk the minor’s elder sister and, in the past, had threatened to kidnap her. On the night of the crime the victim’s elder sister was visiting a relative so she wasn’t at home. On not finding the elder sister in the house, Bunty kidnapped the minor instead, and raped and killed her. He has accepted his crimes in front of the police,” Uniyal said.
On Tuesday Bunty was sent to the Tehri jail on judicial remand.