DGP forms SIT to probe Adarsh school teacher rape case

FARIDKOT : The Punjab director general of police (DGP) has formed a special investigation team (SIT) to further probe the alleged rape of a Dalit teacher at Adarsh School, Pacca Kalan (Faridkot), by the former school committee chairman and his son.

The SIT, headed by inspector general (IG crime) Vibhu Raj, was formed after the National Scheduled Caste Alliance, an NGO, along with the alleged victim had met DGP Suresh Arora and requested him to constitute a team headed by a senior woman police officer.

The SIT has summoned the main accused Narinder Singh Randhawa, his son Jasmeet Singh Randhawa and the teacher on February 13. “The accused are pressurising the victim and her family to strike a compromise. The police have implicated the teacher and others in another case for allegedly causing hurt by weapons,” Paramjit Singh Kainth of the National Scheduled Caste Alliance had said in a letter to the DGP.

The state government during a case hearing on February 8 had informed the Punjab and Haryana high court that SIT has been constituted and voice samples of the accused were taken.

Also, the police have failed to file challan in violation of the

Code of Criminal Procedure (CRPC) that states that the challan has to be filed within 90 days of lodging of an FIR.

The victim had also approached the assembly committee in December 2017, accusing ASI Baldev Singh, the then investigating offficer, of pressuring her to reach a compromise. She also claims to have an audio recording of the ASI trying to act as a mediator. Later, Baldev Singh was transferred after the audio went viral.