The National Human Rights Commission on Monday issued a notice to the Maharashtra director general of police and commissioner of police over the rape and murder of a nine-year-old girl in Mumbai. The rights panel took suo motu cognisance of the case.
The NHRC ordered the authorities to submit a detailed report within four weeks and asked for data on measures the police plan to take to deter such crimes. “It seems the area [crime scene] lacks proper patrolling and monitoring by the police authorities,” the panel said. “The culprit has a criminal background as he was reportedly arrested by the police in the year 2013. The local police officials are expected be vigilant about suspicious activities of these anti-social elements so that such heinous crimes could be averted.”
The panel said that the girl’s right to life and dignity were “grossly violated”.
The girl’s body was found in the drainage chamber of a public toilet in Vile Parle suburb of Mumbai on April 6, two days after she went missing. A police team arrested the accused, 35-year-old Vadivelu Chintambi Devendra, from his home, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone IX) Paramjit Singh Dahiya said. Devendra had been released from jail last year after he finished his sentence for raping a minor girl in 2013.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Commission for Women issued a notice to the Tihar jail and the Delhi Police demanding why a rape convict was set free before his sentence ended, PTI reported. The Delhi panel said Devendra was released on the basis of “good conduct”.
The Delhi Commission for Women asked the authorities for details of rape convicts whose sentences have been waived in the last 10 years. The police and jail authorities have also been ordered to specify measures they have taken to regulate the activities of rapists who have been released.
The DCW asked the authorities to reply to its notice within 10 days or face the risk of civil court proceedings. “How did the authorities ascertain that he [Devendra] was a changed individual within five years of his imprisonment?” DCW Chief Swati Maliwal said. “In developed countries, activities of people accused of heinous crimes if released on bail are closely monitored. But we have no such systems here.”
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