Uttarakhand High Court asks Nainital SSP to personally review probe into rape of minor

Nainital, May 6 (PTI) The Uttarakhand High Court on Tuesday directed Nainital's Senior Superintendent of Police to personally review the probe into the alleged rape of a minor by an elderly man of a minority community here that had sparked communal tension in the town.

A division bench of the high court comprising Chief Justice G Narendar and Justice Alok Mehra asked SSP Prahlad Narayan Meena to review the probe on a bi-weekly basis and submit a report to the court every quarter.

The high court issued the instructions while hearing a petition challenging a notice for demolition of the house of the rape accused which has already been stayed by the court.

Advocate Shiv Bhatt told the court that there were apprehensions that the provisions of POSCO may not be applied in the investigations and demanded a CBI probe into the matter.

However, SSP assured the court that he had been personally supervising the case. The police officer also informed the court that since the victim belongs to the Scheduled Caste, charges have been levelled against the accused accordingly and the investigation has been handed over to a DSP-rank officer.

Keeping in view the sensitivity of the matter which sparked communal tension in the town, the investigation should be reviewed personally by the SSP on a bi-weekly basis, the high court said.

It also directed him to submit a report every quarter to the court, which will hear the matter next on August 5.

The alleged rape of the 12-year-old girl by the septuagenarian man triggered communal tension in the town, with right-wing Hindu outfits vandalising shops owned by members of the minority community.

At the last hearing of the case a couple of days back, the court had expressed displeasure over the issuance of demolition notices to the accused and 62 others on which the civic body of the city had said that it would withdraw the notices.

The court had observed that a demolition notice in a situation like this would have further stoked passions. The petition was filed by the wife of the accused. PTI COR ALM ALM NSD NSD