Delay in investigation of rape case, order to take action against 2 police officers
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Rajshahi Representative/
The court has ordered action against two sub-inspectors (SIs) of police for delaying the investigation of a rape case in Rajshahi’s Puthia police station.
Judge Muha of Rajshahi Women and Children Torture Prevention Tribunal 2 on Tuesday afternoon. Hasanuzzaman gave this order. The controlling authority has been directed to inform the court to take appropriate action against them as per employment rules.
At the same time, a new investigation officer has been appointed to carry out further investigation of the case.
The court ordered the copy of the order to be sent to the Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) of Rajshahi Range, Superintendent of Police (SP) of Rajshahi and the OC of Puthia police station in the district.
These two SIs are Md. Jahangir Alam and Sohail Rana. Jahangir Alam is the first investigating officer of the case. After he was transferred to Tanor police station in Rajshahi, the investigation of the case fell on SI Sohail Rana. He is working at Puthia police station.
According to court sources, a 6-year-old girl was raped on October 29 last year. The child’s cousin is accused of rape. The child’s cousin is also 17 years old. In this incident, the victim’s mother filed a rape case at the police station on November 1 last year. After that, the police took the 17-year-old child involved in the rape into custody. Later the court sent him to Child Development Center in Jessore. That child is there now. The court rejected the child’s bail application on Tuesday.
At the same time, the court expressed anger that the two investigating officers could not make significant progress even after 89 working days passed after the case was filed. In the order, the court said, this is a sensational rape case. After four months and 7 days passed after the case, the statement of the victim was not accepted. Medical certificate not taken.
The new investigation officer Sohel Rana appeared in the court and said that the victim’s statement was taken last Monday. Medical certificate has not been taken yet.
In the order, the court said that the tribunal was not informed as to why the police report was not filed. As a result, there is a risk of undue delay in the trial of the case and destruction of important evidence and evidence, which may make it difficult for the tribunal to decide the original case.
It appeared to the court that the two investigating officers did not do any significant work in the case even for 89 working days. It amounts to willful obstruction of justice. Therefore, the court feels that the two investigating officers are responsible for not completing the investigation within the time prescribed by law. This is considered their inefficiency and misconduct.
Therefore, action has been taken against them for undue delay in the investigation of the case, not collecting the medical report, not seizing the evidence and not submitting the police report to the court on time by doing other necessary work of investigation. At the same time, a new investigation officer has been appointed to take the investigation forward. And the administrative court of the concerned police station has been asked to supervise the matter.
When asked, Puthia police station OC Farooq Hossain said that after the transfer of the first investigation officer, the second investigation officer was appointed. Now it takes time to verify the data found in the first person’s investigation. That may be why the police report could not be given. And I still don’t know about the order given by the court without getting the investigation report. The higher authorities will be informed when the copy of the order reaches the police station. After that the authorities will take action as per the order.