[Probe into death of 11-year-old girl] Height of absurdity, stupidity on part of police: Madhya Pradesh High Court

The Gwalior Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court on Tuesday took serious exception to the investigation carried out by the police in a case relating to a missing 11 year-old-girl, who was eventually murdered [Gajendra Singh Chandel v. The State Of Madhya Pradesh]..In this context, the Bench of Justices Rohit Arya and Milind Ramesh Phadke summoned the Inspector General of Police to appear on July 8, stating that the safety of the public against invasion on their personal liberty and property appeared to be seriously jeopardised.“We take strong exception to the functioning of the Police force in the State particularly, in the Guna district relevant to the facts of this case,” the Bench recorded in its order..The Court was hearing a case filed in 2017 by the father of the missing girl seeking its intervention for the rescue of the minor. However, the Bench observed that despite its repeated orders, the police force’s callousness was evident..It pointed out that despite the constitution of three Special Investigation Teams (SITs), the girl had not been found.“It shows incompetence of such Police officials, who were members of the SITs.”.In fact, the order highlighted that one Sonu Kalawat had disclosed that he killed and raped the child and buried her body, but no action had been taken against him yet. The Court also took a poor view of reports filed by the police stating that the missing girl was still being searched for, despite having knowledge of her death.“The height of absurdity and stupidity on the part of the Police officials is writ large, as despite the said knowledge of demise of the corpus, subsequent reports are being submitted that the missing corpus is beings searched.”.The last affidavit, the Bench opined, appeared to be a lip service despite running into six pages, as no substantial steps had been taken for action against the assailant.“It is further surprising to note that so far, no FIR has been lodged to start the investigation on aforesaid disclosure of the fact of the death of the deceased corpus.”.The Director General of Police (DGP) had maintained “blissful silence” despite repeated orders since 2020, said the Court. It added that complaints of inaction by the police force were invariably brought to the notice of the court in different jurisdictions..With these observations, the Court adjourned the case to July 8, and sought the Inspector General’s presence. As a parting shot, it said that if circumstances so warrant, the DGP would also be summoned..Advocate Anil Kumar Shrivastava appeared for the petitioner, while the State was represented by Additional Advocate General MPS Raghuvanshi..[Read Order]