JAMMU, Dec 18: The High Court has questioned the Jammu Police over probe into the mysterious death of a 13-year-old girl, who found hanging from a tree on August 15 in Gharota area of Jammu.
Justice Rahul Bharti, while hearing a petition filed by the victim’s father Mukhtyar Ali, transferred the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation, observing that the Special Investigation Team showed no serious-minded effort to ascertain whether the minor died by suicide or was subjected to sexual assault and murder.
The petitioner approached the court two months after the incident, alleging police apathy and expressing suspicion that his daughter had been raped and killed.
Despite the gravity of the case, the court noted that the police assigned the matter to a Probationary Sub-Inspector, treating it like a routine inquiry rather than a sensitive investigation into a minor’s death.
The first status report filed by the SDPO Akhnoor on October 31, the court observed, was a two-page “ritualistic exercise” that shifted the burden onto the grieving father to explain why the police investigation was flawed, without disclosing what steps-if any-were taken to determine the cause of death.
Shockingly, even the child’s name was disclosed in the report in violation of legal protections. The court also found that no Executive Magistrate was involved in the inquest as required under law, and the SIT’s progress remained at the same page even in a second status report filed on November 24-over three months after the incident.
While the postmortem indicated ligature marks consistent with hanging and the FSL report ruled out poisoning or sexual assault, Justice Bharti held that the police’s lack of urgency and lack of supervision by senior officers risked destroying crucial evidence.
The Court emphasis that the investigation demanded expertise and seriousness not exhibited by the district police. Finding the ongoing probe inadequate, the court directed the personal appearance of the Incharge SIT/SDPO Akhnoor and the SP CBI (Jammu) on the next hearing, and formally placed the investigation under the CBI & listed the matter for December 18.
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