Supreme Court panel slams Bengal govt, summons top officials

NEW DELHI: Hitting out at the West Bengal government for not cooperating with the National Commission for Scheduled Castes investigation into the case of alleged gangrape and murder of a 17-year-old girl from a village in Uttar Dinajpur district, the commission has issued a notice asking senior officials from the state to appear before it in Delhi on Friday.
NCSC vice-chairman Arun Halder has taken a serious view of the absence of senior police and district officials during his visit related to the case to the village on April 23 citing it to be “dereliction of duty” on the part of the officials. He also hit out at CM Mamata Banerjee accusing her government of not cooperating with the NCSC in its investigation. The girl was found dead in a canal in Kaliaganj on April 20., a day after she went missing. Her family alleged that she was raped before being murdered. The death triggered violence in the area and Kaliaganj police station was set afire. Halder said when he reached the incident spot, no protocols were followed. “The district magistrate and superintendent of police are supposed to be present but they were not present. At least the investigation officer should have been present but even he was not there. You are not insulting me but a constitutional position,” he said at a press conference in Delhi on Thursday.
On April 25, the commission followed up with a notice addressed to Inspector General of Police of North Bengal region and superintendent of police and district magistrate of Uttar Dinajpur.