UP Police has been issued a show cause notice by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) for initiating an illegal proceeding against the newly wed couple in district Balrampur.
The couple got married in Mumbai after eloping from Balrampur. However, the girl’s father lodged a complaint of kidnapping with the UP Police. The Police summoned the couple to the Mathura police post and were detained in the seperate cells.
The Police initiated the proceeding by looking into the charges of under age marriage despite the fact that the city court held that both girl and boy are major. The husband is charged by the police under section 376 (rape) of IPC and it has been alleged that the sub inspector has sexually assaulted the girl. Further the father-in-law of girl has also been falsely implicated in the case. Despite several notices from NHRC, the superintendent of police has failed to appear and provide complete information to NHRC.
The police has criticized the conduct of UP Police, NHRC stated that the police officials has not conducted the investigations in a fair and correct manner and they have also failed to apprise the provision of law, especially in the applicability of section 376 of IPC.
It was further stated by the NHRC that the illegalities committed by the police in this case has reminded the NHRC of a 50 year old saying by the Allahabad High Court which is still relevant today. The saying is: There is not a single lawless group in the whole of the country whose record of crime comes anywhere near the record of that single organized unit which is known as the Indian Police Force…the police force in Uttar Pradesh is an organized gang of criminals…” This case is a reminder that this pungent observation made almost fifty years ago is still valid and relevant at least for the Balrampur police of 2014.
The NHRC has now sought response as to why the girl, boy and her father-in-law should not be paid Rs 5 lakh, Rs 3 lakh and Rs 1.5 lakh as compensation. The response has been sought from the Chief Secretary of the state within the time of 3 months.
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