The court also observed that it is highly improbable that the youth would have managed to hang himself using the fan in the ‘baithak’ in the manner suggested while the accused were on guard outside waiting for his family to arrive. (File)
THE PUNJAB and Haryana High Court on Wednesday ordered a CBI probe into the death of a 25-year-old, who was allegedly killed in 2017 for being in a relationship with a girl belonging to an upper caste family. The police had closed the matter as a case of suicide.
“The present is clearly a matter which calls for a thorough and proper investigation which has indeed not been carried out by the police authorities. There is a clear-cut need of an in-depth investigation in respect of the death of the petitioner’s son,” Justice Lisa Gill said in the verdict pronounced on Wednesday.
Justice Gill in the order said the investigation in the case is required to be handed over to the CBI in order to provide credibility in the investigation and ensure complete justice. “I am fully conscious of the CBI already being overburdened and facing constraints of manpower and paraphernalia, as has been urged by its counsel, but the present is clearly an exceptional situation and in order to dispense complete justice it is necessary to direct an independent investigation to be conducted by the CBI into the incident and circumstances leading to the death of the petitioner’s son,” the order read.
The family of the 25-year-old had approached the HC in 2017 for a CBI probe into the case. The Mahendragarh youth, who belonged to the Yadav community, had developed relations with a girl belonging to the Brahmin community in his village. On April 4 in 2017, it is alleged, he was killed by the girl’s family in their own house by hanging him from a ceiling fan. Rahul succumbed at the hospital on April 12. The girl’s family registered a case of house trespass against him on April 13, alleging that he committed suicide after they locked him inside a room.
Observing that the police authorities have concluded it as a case of suicide only on the basis of medical opinion, the single bench in the judgment said, “The Medical Board appears to have proceeded on a presumption that in the absence of bruises, nail marks/finger marks at the border of ligature around the neck, the death could not be held to be homicidal”. The CBI in its scrutiny report earlier had informed the HC that an independent opinion could have been sought to arrive at a logical conclusion regarding the nature of injuries inflicted on the body of the deceased.
The court also observed that it is highly improbable that the youth would have managed to hang himself using the fan in the ‘baithak’ in the manner suggested while the accused were on guard outside waiting for his family to arrive. “The Crime Scene Report, photographs of the door of the Baithak, do not prima facie indicate such a scenario,” the verdict read.