Cal HC forms SIT to probe into Kaliaganj girl’s death

The Calcutta High Court on Thursday ordered the formation of a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the unnatural death of a minor girl at Kaliaganj in West Bengal's Uttar Dinajpur district, whose dead body was found on April 21.

The girl's father moved the high court seeking transfer of the investigation into her death to the CBI, claiming that he does not have faith in the probe being done by the state police.

Justice Rajasekhar Mantha ordered the formation of an SIT comprising a retired additional director of CBI, a former IG-rank officer of the West Bengal police and a special commissioner of Kolkata Police to investigate the unnatural death of the girl.

Upendra Nath Biswas, who had headed the fodder scam case probe, former IG Pankaj Datta and special commissioner (I) of Kolkata Police, Damayanti Sen will constitute the SIT, the court directed. Alleging that she was sexually assaulted and gagged to death, the petitioner's lawyer prayed that the investigation be transferred to the CBI, claiming that the parents have no faith in a probe by the state authorities. The state's lawyer earlier told the court that the 17-year-old girl was reported to have gone missing on April 20 and that her dead body was found near a pond in the area a day later.

Stating that no sign of sexual assault was found on the body as per the postmortem report, the state lawyer had claimed that there were signs of poisoning on the body.

Violent protests took place at Kaliaganj on April 25 over the death of the girl with agitators also setting fire to Kaliaganj police station. Ordering the formation of the SIT, Justice Mantha pointed to a series of discrepancies between the time of the inquest and the time of the post-mortem of the body of the girl and that none of the family members was present during the inquest or the post-mortem. The state lawyer claimed before the court that the post-mortem was conducted after sundown on the apprehension of a law and order situation.

Taking note of reports filed by the Kaliaganj police station and the sub-divisional police officer (SDPO), Itahar, Justice Mantha observed that the police have not been able to explain the discrepancies between the inquest report and the post-mortem report.

''The need for conducting a post-mortem after sundown on the apprehension of a law and order situation when the body was in the custody of the state, is unacceptable,'' the court said.

Holding that the discrepancies throw doubts on the investigation conducted by the police, Justice Mantha said, ''With a view to restore the faith of the family and the public at large in the investigation, this Court is of the view that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) ought to be constituted to take over the investigation.'' Justice Mantha directed that the SIT will consider and be free to order a second post-mortem if deemed necessary by them and asked it to take the decision on the issue immediately.

The court directed that the SIT will be at liberty to appoint any person or persons of their choice to assist in their investigation and will have ''all the powers under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) to conduct the investigation into the death of the victim'' and the FIR dated April 21, 2023, in connection with her death.

It directed the Kaliaganj police station and the SDPO, Itahar to hand over all the materials including the case diary to the SIT as and when asked for by the SIT.

The court directed the SIT to file a preliminary report on June 28, when the matter will be taken up for hearing again.