Child rights commission summons cops

Nikhil Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, October 14

Taking suo-motu cognizance of news reports pertaining to the death of a 17-year-old domestic help at the residence of a government contractor Gurvinder Singh at Ranjit Avenue on Thursday, the Punjab State Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (PSCPCR) today summoned officials of the Ludhiana police, besides the house owner and kin of the deceased.

Gurvinder is brother-in-law of Varunjit Singh, who is Inspector in the Punjab Police, and posted at the Police Lines in Ludhiana.

The Inspector lives on the ground floor while Gurvinder has his residence on the first floor of the house, where the girl was found dead. The body of the domestic help was found hanging in the servant quarter on the third floor of the house.

In a summon issued by the commission (copy with Tribune), it was stated: “The commission has taken a suo-motu notice of the news published in newspapers in which a domestic help is said to have died under mysterious circumstances. The allegation has been levelled on the government contractor as well as on Inspector Varunderjit, who also lives in the same house.”

The commission has summoned the Additional DCP under whose jurisdiction the area falls, Station House Officer, police official concerned at whose residence the tragic incident happened, investigating officer concerned and parents of the victim girl child. The commission has asked policemen to bring along report of the incident during the hearing.

The chairman of the Punjab State Commission for the Protection of Child Rights, Sukesh Kalia, said he had read the news published in various newspapers, including The Tribune, and taken suo-motu cognizance of reports.

“I have also asked the police to bring status report of the investigation. The commission has intervened to deliver justice to the aggrieved family,” he added. He said the commission would keep a regular tab over the ongoing probe.