J-K High Court orders CBI probe into mysterious death of 13-year-old girl in Jammu

Not satisfied with the police investigation, the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh has ordered a CBI probe into the death of a 13-year-old girl who was found hanging here in August last year.

The court said it was “far from being impressed, lest convinced, that any serious-minded effort is afoot” on the part of the district police to ascertain the cause of the minor’s death.

The victim’s father, who is from a village in Bhalwal tehsil, approached the High Court through his counsel, suspecting that his daughter was raped and murdered.

He sought that the investigation be transferred to the Crime Branch, Jammu, in view of the police’s “failure” to ascertain the cause of the girl’s death.

The girl was found hanging on August 15, 2024, and the petition was filed on October 8, 2024.

Taking exception to the status reports filed by police, Justice Rahul Bharti in his eight-page order dated December 10 noted that the inquiry was initially entrusted to a probationary sub-inspector, which itself reflected a “routine mindset” in dealing with a case involving the suspicious death of a minor girl.

The court cautioned that continued delay would result in loss of crucial evidence, warning that the outcome would be “nothing but an adulterated version” of events.

Holding that the facts and circumstances warranted intervention, the court said it was “fully convinced that it is a case which requires an investigation to be done by none else than the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)”.

The court directed the personal appearance of the in-charge Special Investigation Team, sub-divisional police officer, Akhnoor, and the superintendent of police, CBI Jammu, V Chandu, and ordered production of the entire inquest and inquiry record on the next date of hearing on December 18.

The court said the first status report in this case, filed on October 31, 2024, by the SDPO, Akhnoor, finished within a two-page ritual para-wise statement, meaning thereby that the two-month period generated no factual inputs for the SDPO to report to the court.

“In the purported second status report, a reference is made to the FSL (Forensic Science Laboratory) report stating that no common poison/drug or human spermatozoa were detected in the exhibits sent for examination,” the order said.

According to the board of doctors’ final opinion based on the postmortem findings, and FSL and HPE (histopathological examination) reports, the order said the cause of death was ‘asphyxia’ due to ante-mortem hanging as alleged. PTI