Notice to UP top cop over minor's 'torture'

New Delhi: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has sent a notice to the Uttar Pradesh DGP over reports that a 14-year-old girl was allegedly detained by the police in Noida for eight days. The commission said she was also allegedly beaten, burnt with cigarettes and given electric shocks.

The commission observed that the content of the reports, if true, “indicate cruelty of the police personnel for which they deserve exemplary punishment so that a message could be given that such inhuman acts by a public servant cannot be accepted at any cost”.

It said that the law does not empower the police personnel to humiliate and harm innocent citizens.

“The NHRC has taken suo motu cognisance of media reports that a 14-year-old girl was detained at a police chowki and a police station in Noida for eight days,” the commission said in a statement. The commission has issued the notice to the director general of police of the state and sought a detailed report within four weeks.

”He (police chief) is also expected to send the report about the steps taken for counselling/rehabilitation of the victim,” the rights panel said.

According to a media report carried on Thursday, the girl, a domestic help, was detained after her employer accused her of theft. The girl’s family said that she was detained by the police on May 14 at the Salarpur police chowki, where she remained till May 16, the NHRC statement said, quoting from the report.

The statement said : “They (family members) were not allowed to meet her and she was released on May 16. The police again picked up the girl the next day and this time her 17-year-old brother was also taken into custody. Both of them were finally released on the night of May 22, following the intervention by an NGO, Bachpan Bachao Andolan and an order from the Child Welfare Committee (CWC).”

Reportedly, the CWC, on May 23, had also ordered a medical examination of the girl. The NHRC said : “The medico-legal case report has revealed discoloured brown-shaped circular discolorations near her left and right wrists linking these to burnt marks. The report also mentions abrasions on the right forearm near the elbow and three discoloured abrasions on both the wrists. The report specifically clarified that all injuries are more than 10 days old, caused by hard and blunt object.”

The SHO of the Police Station Sector-39, Noida has reportedly denied the allegations of illegal detention and torture.     He has also claimed that the girl was “not a minor”. “The medico-legal case, report, however, confirms that the girl is a minor,” it said.