Probe into Thanagazi gang rape says Alwar police chief didn’t visit spot for 24 hours
EXPLANATION The SP says he was busy in another case, bomb hoax call and VIP duty
JAIPUR: Administrative inquiry into the Thanagazi gang rape holds the then Alwar superintendent of police (SP) Rajiv Pachar guilty of negligence as he did not visit the spot within 24 hours of the incident.
Earlier, a police inquiry had given him the clean chit.
The state government ordered an administrative inquiry by Jaipur divisional commissioner KC Verma on May 9 to fix accountability of police officers in the case.
A 19-year-old Dalit woman was gang-raped by five men in front of her husband on April 26 in Thanagazi. The Rajasthan government drew criticism from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bahuajan Samaj Party chief Mayawati during the Lok Sabha election campaign for delay in lodging the FIR in the case and not taking action until the purported video of the sexual assault began circulating on social media.
“The FIR was registered on May 2 and Pachar neither visited the spot within 24 hours nor sent a supervisory note to the home department,” the report said.
HT has read the report of administrative inquiry.
The report points out delay in registration of FIR and in getting the medical examination done. “After registering the FIR, the then station house officer (SHO) Sardar Singh kept the victim’s husband in the police station for questioning until midnight,” the report said.
The probe report said between April 30 and May 2, the Thanagazi police traced the location of the accused for more than 60 times but did not arrest them.
The victim’s medical examination was done on May 3, nine days after the gang rape. “The extent of insensitivity was that the victim was sent with her husband on bike to get the medical examination. Even after recording victim’s statement, no efforts were made by the police to apprehend the criminals,” the report said.
According to police rules, in case of rape, circle officer has to visit the spot within 24 hours, and if the rape is of a minor or it is a case of gang rape, even the SP or the additional SP are required to visit the spot within 24 hours. The SHO needs to immediately inform the SP about such cases.
In the Thanagazi case, none of this was followed, the report said, which has held two constables, SHO, CO, additional SP and the SP guilty of not following the protocol in crimes against women.
On June 7, the state government ordered FIR against the SHO under section 166A(C) of the IPC, which covers a public servant failing to record any information given to him in relation to cognizable offence. The CO was sent out of district, and other staff of the police station was sent out of Jaipur police range. The then SP was removed.
Five accused in the case were arrested on May 7 and police have filed charge sheet in the case. The gang rape survivor has been appointed as a police constable besides the family getting compensation.
The administrative inquiry report said that constable Mahesh Gurjar was in touch with one of the accused and was passing on information to him. The report indicted beat constable Brahmaram and constable Ghanshyam for being unaware of the incident despite the areas being their beats.
The divisional commissioner held the police responsible for circulation of the video. “If the accused were arrested on time, the videos would not have circulated,” it said.
According to report, the SHO did not register the FIR and tried to pass it off as a fake case. He even told his CO that the case was appeared to be fake. However, the CO did not make an effort to find out facts for himself until the FIR was registered six days later.
“The SHO refused to meet the victim. He didn’t register the case. Even without registering an FIR, he went out with victim’s husband and kept pretending that he was trying to find out the location of the accused,” the report said.
Divisional commissioner KC Verma said he had submitted the report to the government two to three months back. “I cannot discuss the loopholes that I have mentioned in my report,” he said.
Pachar said he came to know about the incident on May 30. “There was communal tension in Tijara over rape of a minor that day and I was there,” he said to justify his absence from Thanagazi spot. “Also, there was a bomb hoax call in Alwar and a rally of big leader in Alwar,” he added.
The then additional SP Chiranji Lal Meena said that the way he had been portrayed in the report was completely wrong. “The CO and the SHO knew about the incident on time but they didn’t inform me. How would I come to know about it? Apart from that, I was also assigned duty in VIP movement,” he said.
Meena s a i d t h e S P was removed and he was given charge. “After that I visited the family and apologized to them. I was the one who arrested three accused within a day after the incident came to my knowledge and ensured that the charge sheet was filed within 15 days,” he added.
CO Jagmohan Sharma said he was not in a condition to talk because of a gallbladder surgery. Sardar Singh did not take calls for his reaction on the report.