The National Human Rights Commission has severely indicted the UP Police for illegal proceedings in a case of love marriage resulting in grave violation of human rights of a newlywed couple in Balrampur.
This included wrongful detention, custodial rape, false implication and delay in initiating criminal proceedings against the accused Sub Inspector.
The NHRC has issued a notice to the UP Government through Chief Secretary, to show cause why the victim woman, her husband and father-in-law should not be recommended to be paid Rs. 5 lakh, Rs. 3 lakh and Rs. 1.5 lakh respectively as monetary relief in the case. The Chief Secretary has been given 3 months time to respond to submit his reply.
NHRC said in its report that a young man and a girl from Balrampur had eloped and got married in Mumbai. The girl’s father lodged a complaint of kidnapping with the police in the matter, following which, the newlywed couple was called to Mathura police post of Balrampur district.
However, instead of taking a proper legal recourse in the mater, both of them were detained in separate cells at the police post from the 12th – 13th August, 2014, NHRC said in its report adding that the Sub Inspector subjected the girl to sexual assault.
When the girl complained about her sexual assault by the Sub Inspector, no prompt lawful action was taken in the matter. The police continued to pursue the case of underage marriage of the couple despite a City Court having held both of them of major age and allowed the girl to live with her husband as per her wish, NHRC said.
Not only this, the police, subsequently, charged her husband with rape by adding section 376 to the main case file and also falsely implicated her father-in-law. She was also coerced to retract her allegations under pressure of another FIR having been registered on charges of rape against her supporters.
The Commission also found that in response to its notices, the Superintendent of Police, Balrampur, had failed to give a clear chain of incidents having unity of time, action and place involving the couple’s marriage and action taken on another FIR registered by the girl, alleging sexual assault by a Sub Inspector.
Taking a serious exception to the functioning of the police, the Commission has observed that this is an extremely sordid case which has come before it. Not only the police officials had failed in conducting fair and correct investigation, they had also failed to appreciate the provisions of law, as far as, the applicability of Section 376 IPC is concerned, NHRC said.