( 1 ) THE present petition has its genesis in the letter dated 23. 7. 1997 addressed to the Hon ble the Chief Justice by the petitioner stating that the petitioner was a widow whose sons had left the house under an apprehension of beating by police pursuant to a complaint and the local police sub inspector had visited her house in search of her sons on 30. 7. 1997 (sic ). At that time, at around 02. 00 a. m. , police had taken away her younger daughter and, at around 04. 00 a. m. , she herself was taken to the police station to take her daughter back. When she asked her daughter about what had happened to her, she was told by her daughter that she was no longer fit to show her face to any one, that the officers had raped her and, after saying that, the daughter, aged 13, had poured kerosene and burnt herself. On that brief complaint, she urged that the dead body of her daughter may be disinterred and, after performing post mortem by a team of doctors, culprits may be punished.

1. That letter appears to have been forwarded by the office to the High Court Legal Aid Board and upon an advocate being appointed to assist, regular petition invoking Articles 14, 19, 21 and 226 of the Constitution appears to have been prepared and filed with the affidavit of the petitioner. The prayers are made to direct the Central Bureau of Investigation to investigate the offences after registering a complaint against respondents No. 2,3 and others, to provide sufficient police protection to the petitioner, to direct the State Government to compensate the petitioner and her family members and to direct the investigating agency to exhume the body of the deceased girl for a detailed post mortem.

( 2 ) ACCORDING to averments made on oath in the petition, the petitioner is a widow aged 75 years and respondents No. 2 and 3 were powerful and influential police officers of Savarkundla police station in Bhavnagar district. Her two sons were accused in a criminal case registered against them at Savarkundla police station and, out of them, one Santosh had surrendered and was taken in judicial custody while the other son Nitin was shown as absconding, though he had applied for anticipatory bail. Police sub-inspector Mr. Dubey, (who was joined as respondent No. 2 and whose name is deleted on 9. 11. 2000 on account of his death) had approached the petitioner at her residence and threatened her of dire consequence if she did not produce her second son at the police station. That ritual was performed for two days. Thereafter, Mr. Dubey along with police sub inspector Mr. Kyada, who is respondent No. 3 herein, and four other policemen had come to her house in a police jeep at 01. 00 a. m. in a drunken condition in the early hours of 30. 6. 1997 and questioned the petitioner under threats. Then, Mr. Dubey ordered the police constables to pick up her daughter, namely, Nayanaben. Thereafter, the girl was brought near Mahakali Chowk where she was dragged out of the jeep and beaten with sticks and, when people in the neighbourhood came out upon hearing her wails, the police officials threatened them to go away and took the girl towards the town police station. At around 04. 30 a. m. , a police jeep with 4 to 5 police constables came to the residence of the petitioner and asked her to accompany them to the police station to see the consequences for her daughter. On reaching the police station, she found the girl lying unconscious on the floor of the office of the police station. Police Inspector Mr. Dubey and police sub-inspector Mr. Kyada asked her to take away the girl under threats. Police Inspector Mr. Dubey told her that he was a dacoit and would not hesitate to shoot them down if the happenings were disclosed to anyone, according to the averments. The petitioner has further stated that she was petrified, but managed to lift her semi-conscious daughter by hand and slowly tried to move out of the police station where again they were stopped and the girl was asked to

Click Here to Read the rest of this document