As outrage escalated over the killing of a toddler whose mutilated body was found in a garbage dump here, the Uttar Pradesh police on Friday suspended five of their men for negligence.
The cops were suspended for alleged delay in registering the case after the girl was reported missing, and also for delaying the probe which eventually led to the discovery of her body on June 2, officials said.
The two-and-a-half-year-old had gone missing from Aligarh district’s Tappal township on May 30. Her body was found three days later in a dump near her house.
The post-mortem confirmed death due to strangulation. It has not found any sign of sexual assault, but it has not been ruled out at this stage.
ADG (Law & Order) Anand Kumar said, “The case will be fast-tracked. POCSO will also be included in the FIR.” He said vaginal swabs have been sent for forensic tests.
Aligarh Senior Superintendent of Police Akash Kulhari said said a decision on adding the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act will be taken after the forensic report.
ADG Kumar said the body was sent for postmortem over 72 hours after the death.
Tappal police, which registered a case on May 31, a day after the child went missing, say the case is a fallout of a monetary dispute.
The two arrested accused, Zahid and Aslam, confessed to killing the girl after her father failed to return Rs 10,000 he had borrowed from them, the police said.
The girl’s father had threatened to go on a fast unto death, demanding the arrest of the accused’s family who, he said, “colluded” in the crime. The SSP persuaded him against the fast, assuring him the accused would be tried in a fast-track court.
Proceedings have begun to charge the duo under the National Security Act, SSP Kulhari said.
A six-member SIT has been formed to investigate the case and a female inspector had been appointed to carry forward the probe, he said.
The minor’s brutal killing soon took a political colour with Congress president Rahul Gandhi expressing shock.
“The horrific murder of a little girl in Aligarh, UP has shocked and disturbed me. How can any human being treat a child with such brutality? The UP police must act swiftly to bring the killers to justice,” he said on Twitter.His sister and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said, “What has become of us?”
BSP supremo Mayawati described the brutal killing as “highly shameful and sad incident”.
Celebrities too expressed their shock and disgust.
Actor Akshay Kumar said he was “horrified, upset and angry”. “We need immediate and strictest punishment for such a heinous crime,” he said on Twitter.
“How can somebody even think of doing such a thing?!?! Speechless,” Abhishek Bachchan said on social media.
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights said in New Delhi it has sought a report from the SSP and issue directions on examining the report.
—Inputs from PTI