"Collusive Attempt To Cover Up The Crime": A New PIL In SC Seeks Registration Of Offences Under IPC And SC/ST Act Against UP Govt. Officials And Police

Another PIL has been preferred in the Supreme Court in relation to the unfortunate Hathras case.

Filed on behalf of activist Chetan Janardhan Kamble, through Advocate Vipin Nair, the plea inter alia seeks issuance of directions to register offences under Sections 166-A, 193, 201, 202, 203, 212, 217, 153-A and 339 of the Indian Penal Code and offences under section 3 (2) and 4 of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 against the government officials including the police officials, the concerned medical staff of J.N. Medical College, AMU, Aligarh and Bagala Joint District Hospital, Hathras, government officials and representatives of the people involved in the destruction of evidence.

"The facts clearly indicate the involvement and complicity of certain UP State police and officials of the State government machinery in manipulation and destruction of evidence and shielding the accused in respect of the subject crime."

- Plea in SC

The plea states that petitioner is constrained to prefer the present criminal writ petition in the form of a public interest litigation after some glaring facts have been revealed regarding the State support for manipulating and destroying evidence in the Hathras gang-rape and murder case, from the affidavit filed by the State of UP in titled as "SATYAMA DUBEY AND OTHERS VERSUS UNION OF INDIA AND OTHERS" before the Supreme Court.

It is averred that the very fact that relevant medico-legal examinations for ruling out sexual assault were not conducted immediately after incident especially when the undergarments were blood stained and the clothes of the girl were torn, the samples were tested for semen nearly 8 days after the incident, and even before investigation is complete, reflects the complicity of certain UP state police and officials in the Government machinery.

Further, it is stated that on the aspect of the response of the State government that the cremation was done to avoid a law and order problem is neither bonafide nor reliable.

"....since there was no threat to law and order if the body of the victim was handed over to the family of the victim after the post-mortem; the threat as alleged in the intelligence report existed only in reference to the police involvement to cremate the body and was made by the lower caste groups who had concerns about justice for the victim girl."

The plea also points to the fact that certain state officials like the District Magistrate of the area were seen openly threatening the family victims. "All this clearly indicates a collective effort by the State machinery to coerce and intimidate the witnesses. It also shows the hostility that is being openly meted out to the public at large as could be seen from the facts that the village was completely cut off for two days to the outside world in order to ensure that there is no transparency," the plea reads.

In this context, the petitioner urges the top court to issue directions for causing investigation in the offences, as aforesaid, by independent special task force [excluding the CBI and UP State Police] who would be of impeachable integrity and having experience of criminal investigation, to be appointed by and monitored by this Court.

Additionally, the plea also seeks issuance of directions by top court to the respondents to to deposit all the evidence including the video-recordings of the statements of the victim and her relatives on 14.09.2020 and 19.09.2020 as well as the medico-legal evidence collected at the time of conducting the autopsy by Safdarjung Hospital, Delhi for examination by an independent forensic laboratory for relevant markers and grant protection to witnesses in the case and family members of the victim by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).