The central legal point established in the judgment is the need for fair investigation and instilling confidence in the family members and residents of the locality, leading to the decision to hand over the investigation to the CBI.

ORDER :

1. In these Public Interest Petitions, an unfortunate incident of alleged gang rape and death of a minor girl aged about 14 years belonging to the scheduled caste category has been highlighted. It has been alleged that on 4th April, 2022, the said minor girl was invited in the birthday party by one Brijgopal Goalain, Shyamnagar area in Hanshkhali in Nadia district of West Bengal, who is stated to be the son of an influential political leader of the ruling Trinamool Congress Party (TMC) and a member of Gazna Gram Panchayat. It is further alleged that the girl was gang raped by Brijgopal Goalain with 4-5 other friends. The record reflects that the girl was sent back to her house at around 8 p.m. in a sick condition. She was unable to stand up and was bleeding from her private parts and was smelling of alcohol. It was alleged that she was forced to consume alcohol. The mother of the girl went to local doctor to take medicine and after returning, she found that her daughter was lying dead on the bed. It has been alleged that the family members were prevented from taking her to any private or government hospital and the girl died on account of excessive bleeding from the private parts.

2. Submission of learned Counsel for the petitioner is that the family members of the victim were threatened and that police had refused to register the report on the next date and with the intervention of the local NGO, the FIR was finally registered by the police after five days. Itis also submitted that the father of the accused is a TMC leader, therefore, the police is not properly investigating the matter and that no MLC and post-mortem of the girl has been done and she has been hurriedly cremated and that even the highest executive of the State is calling it to be an incident of love affair, hence, the people do not have faith that the State police machinery will carry out a fair investigation.

3. This matter was taken up in the first half of the day when learned Counsel for the State took time to produce the case diary along with the report in the second half, therefore, matter was passed over.

4. Learned Counsel for the State has produced the case diary and the report of the investigation.

5. The submission of learned Counsel for the State is that the police authorities are properly investigating the matter. The arrest has been made and that the statements under Section 164 of Cr.P.C. of the concerned persons have been recorded.

6. We have heard the learned Counsel for the parties and perused the record.

7. The unfortunate incident of death of a minor scheduled caste girl aged about 14 years is undisputed. Nothing relevant has been pointed out to counter the allegation of the petitioners that the victim has been cremated hurriedly without any medico-legal examination, without any post-mortem examination and without any death certificate. The incident had taken place on 4th April, 2022 whereas, the FIR has been registered on 10th April, 2022. In the FIR, we find that no reason for delay in reporting the complaint has been recorded. Learned Counsel for the petitioner in WPA (P) 157 of 2022 has made following allegations and requested us to examine the following points in the case diary.

a. While recording the statement of the witnesses under Section 164 of Cr.P.C, no videography as required in terms of proviso of Sub-section 1 of Section 164 of Cr.P.C. has been done.

b. The victim was found on the road bleeding and was taken by someone but blood-stained mud has not been seized from the spot of recovery of the girl.

c. No crime reconstruction scene of the incident has been done.

d. The chemical test to trace out the bloodstains was not done. He has submitted that the West Bengal Police does not have necessary facility for that test and it can be done only by CFSL, Delhi.

e. The clothes of the victim have not been seized for the DNA sampling.

f. The clothes of the accused, which he was wearing at the time of the incident, have not been seized. He has