National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) Member Dr Yogendra Paswan on Thursday visited Tentoi village under Naugaon block in the district to probe the death of a Dalit girl, who had committed suicide when her obscene photos were made viral in social media by a youth, Deepak Behura.

After meeting the deceased’s kin, Paswan expressed his profound anguish over the police probe into the incident. He said timely police action could have saved the victim’s life. He directed police to reinvestigate the case and furnish the probe report to the commission within seven days.

“There was neglect on part of the police in conducting inquiry and no action was taken against the accused even after filing of the FIR. Besides, police did not register the case under Section 376 (C) of the IPC and Section 67 of the IT Act which prohibits publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form,” he said.

The NCSC Member said the woman’s family members had lodged an FIR against the accused on June 8. But police did not take the matter seriously and register the complaint. After the woman committed suicide, another FIR was lodged but the police registered a case on November 11, four days after the incident.

The woman’s family has so far received Rs 1.10 lakh as compensation. They would get more compensation if police register a case under Section 376 (C) of the IPC, Paswan added.

Among others, district Collector SK Mohapatra, SP Prakash R, Dalit Bikash Parishad president Shankar Das and many Dalit leaders of the district were present.