Girl’s rape: Court recommends spl training for Madhubani SP, 2 other cops

PATNA: A Jhanjharpur court on Monday recommended special training for Madhubani SP and two others while observing that they don’t have basic knowledge of laws related to offences committed against minor girls. The two other officers are Jhanjharpur SDPO and Bhairavsthan police station SHO.
The court found that police filed chargesheet against an accused only under Section 363 (punishment for kidnapping) and Section 366A (procuration of minor girl) of IPC while the case was related to kidnapping, marrying and having physical relation with a 15-year-old girl, who had later become pregnant.
It was hearing a regulation bail petition of Balbir Sadai, who is accused of kidnapping a minor girl for marriage after barging into her residence on January 6 this year. The petitioner pleaded that the matter had been settled with the victim after marriage and who was pregnant.
The court of ADJ Avinash Kumar-I denied him bail as per the Supreme Court ruling that sexual intercourse with a girl below 18 years is rape regardless of fact whether she is the wife of the person. The court observed that as per the case diary, the girl was medically examined on January 13 and the doctors found her 15-year-old and injury in her private part.
It observed that since the SP is an IPS officer, he be sent to National Police Academy for the special training of laws like The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act and POCSO Act. The court also directed to send the order to Union home minister and state DGP to look into the matter, conduct an inquiry and act accordingly. The order was uploaded on Wednesday night.
The court didn’t spare Jhanjharpur ACJM-III and issued show-cause notice for its January 13 order that the victim was an adult when no legal, valid documentary evidence or medical report was present to establish it. The court expressed shock over the kind of police investigation in which final supervision was conducted by the SP. It observed that even the SDPO in his supervision note mentioned about the accused marrying a minor victim, but he didn’t apply the POCSO Act, The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act and Section 376 (rape) of IPC in the case and the SP approved it. “The non-application of the said Acts is a grave miscarriage of justice,” it observed.