On December 2, the Gogri police in Khagaria district in Bihar reportedly charged a class 1 student for molestation and invoked the SC/ST Act against him. As per a report published by the Hindi daily Jagran, the senior police officer, supervising the case, also arbitrarily ordered the arrest of the child, without himself investigating the details of the case. After the matter came to the notice of Khagaria SP Amitesh Kumar, he ordered a thorough investigation into the case.
According to the report, one Anokhi Devi of Shishwa village of Gogri has submitted a written application to the SP in which she claimed that a woman from Fatehpur had lodged a case in Gogri police station with the intention of not returning the money she had borrowed. Following her complaint, the Gogri police registered a case imposing serious sections including that of molestation, theft and invoked the SC/ST Act. Four people including a woman were accused in the case. One of the accused was a child studying in class 1.
The petition further stated that the second accused named in the FIR works abroad and had not returned to India since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Moreover, it stated that two women residents of Fatehpur, Shobha Devi and Meera Devi, who have been made eyewitnesses in the case, have denied knowing anything about the incident.
The Jagran report states that the DSP headquarter Ranjit Singh was entrusted with the responsibility of supervising the case. It has been claimed that Singh had ordered the child’s arrest while sitting in his office without performing a complete investigation in the case.
The Bihar police are being criticised widely since one of the accused in the case is a class 1 student.
OpIndia’s conversation with SP of Khagaria, Bihar
OpIndia spoke to Khagaria SP Amitesh Kumar, who assured that the case is being thoroughly investigated from all possible angles. He said that the DSP headquarter, which supervised the case, has been asked to submit an explanation of whether they had visited the spot, and if they did, whether they tried to attest the age of the child who has been named in the FIR.
Secondly, he said that the police is trying to obtain the age certificate of the child. He added that the police are deeply investigating the role of the IO and the DSP in the case and if they are found guilty of negligiance appropriate actions will be taken against them.
If at all, it is revealed that the boy is above the age of twelve, he will be treated under the Juvenile Justice Act. Regarding the SC/ST Act, he said that there is a possibility that foul language was used. However, the matter needs to be investigated properly before coming to any conclusion, added IPS Amitesh Kumar.
