The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Uttar Pradesh DGP to constitute a special investigation team to probe the case of a four-year-old girl, who was allegedly raped and killed in Ghaziabad last month.
Observing that the victim's parents were dissatisfied with the probe conducted by Ghaziabad police, a bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant said the special investigation team (SIT) should be notified preferably on Friday or by 11 am on Saturday.
The bench, also comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi, directed that the SIT should consist of women police officers and be headed by an officer of the rank of commissioner or inspector general.
The SIT will look into all the grievances raised by the victim's parents and also probe the role of two private hospitals, which allegedly denied treatment to the victim, the bench said.
"The most shocking part of the alleged offence is that it exhibits complete indifference and an insensitive approach by two alleged private hospitals, as well as the local police," the top court said.
The SIT will file its supplementary report before the concerned trial court within two weeks, the bench said, as it asked the trial court to keep the ongoing proceedings in the case in abeyance till then.
"We have also seen the panchnama (spot assessment), which does not record whether the victim child was wearing clothes in the lower part of the body. But it was stated that her private part was bleeding. There were injuries to her head. The doctor who conducted post mortem has failed to record the brutal, aggravated sexual assault on the child," CJI Surya Kant said.
The bench passed the order while hearing a plea filed by the victim's father seeking a court-monitored probe into the case, either by an SIT or the CBI.
According to the victim's lawyer, a blunt object was inserted into her private parts, the post-mortem showed. However, the police only wanted to investigate this as a murder, he said. Additionally, the police report showed that the child was dead by the time they heard the case. However, a purported video recording showed the child was in fact alive.
The victim's lawyer told the court that her father is being asked to withdraw the case every day.
To this, the court ordered that "no coercive action" must be taken against the petitioner or the witnesses in the case.
Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the police, told the bench that a chargesheet has already been filed in the case and the trial has also commenced.
While hearing the matter on April 13, the top court had flagged the "reluctance" of Ghaziabad police in lodging an FIR and conducting an investigation into the case.
The incident took place on March 16 when the child was lured away from her home by a neighbour on the pretext of buying chocolates. The girl did not return home for a few hours, following which her father began a search and found her lying unconscious and covered in blood nearby. The girl was initially taken to two private hospitals who denied admission. She was then taken to a Ghaziabad district hospital, where the doctors declared her dead.
On April 10, the apex court had lambasted Ghaziabad police's "insensitive approach" in the investigation of the case.
The court had expressed dismay that two private hospitals in Ghaziabad had refused to admit the bleeding child, who was eventually declared dead at a government hospital.