Guwahati, May 29: Gauhati High Court has taken serious exception to alleged major lapses by police during investigation and trial of a case of sexual assault on a hearing and speech-impaired girl.

A single-judge bench of Justice B.D. Agarwal today directed Assam director-general of police Jayanto N. Choudhury to take disciplinary action against the then officer-in-charge of Jajori police station in Nagaon district, Anadi Das, who was the investigating officer of the case.

In his order, Justice Agarwal said the case had assumed significance not only because of the gravity of the offence but also because of the gross negligence displayed by the prosecution while conducting the trial.

The court passed the order in connection with an appeal filed by the accused, Pran Krishna Bora, against the trial court judgment convicting him of attempting to rape the deaf and mute girl in 2005.

It had been established in the trial court that on July 22, 2005, the accused had grabbed the victim and pushed her to the ground in an attempt to sexually assault her. He had also bitten the victim on her face but could not succeed as she somehow managed to free herself from his clutches and flee.

On June 30, 2010, the trial court found Bora guilty and sentenced him to four years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 500.

The high court, while upholding the conviction, cut down the rigorous imprisonment term to a year but hiked the fine to Rs 10,000. The accused was convicted under Section 354 IPC (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty).

The court said the investigating officer had not furnished the original test identification parade report before the trial court had presented an eyewitness as an hearsay witness and prepared the sketch map of the crime scene in a perfunctory manner, among others, which were serious lapses. “In view of the gravity of the offence, the investigating officer should have been more alert during his cross-examination by the defence. However, it was otherwise. Hence, his conduct is highly reprehensible and needs administrative action,” the judge said.

Justice Agarwal also expressed his displeasure at the role played by the then public prosecutor at the trial court while conducting the trial.