Jharkhand High Court takes cognisance of Dumka girl’s death case, summons DGP

Ranchi, August 30

The High Court of Jharkhand on Tuesday took suo motu cognisance of the Dumka school girl death case and ordered the Director General of Police to file a report.

The DGP, Neeraj Sinha, was present in the court following a summons by the bench.

The division bench of Chief Justice Dr Ravi Ranjan and Justice Sujit Narayan has asked for the status report on the case.

The bench asked the DGP why the victim was referred to Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in Ranchi, and not to AIIMS, Deoghar, which is much closer from Dumka.

The DGP was also asked to mention in his report whether the Deoghar facility is well-equipped to handle burn cases.

The incident happened in Dumka town on August 23 when a man allegedly poured petrol on the girl from outside the window of her room while she was sleeping and set her on fire.

The teenager, who apparently did not reciprocate his overtures angering him, succumbed to her injuries on Sunday.

Two persons, including the main accused, have been arrested in connection with the case till Tuesday afternoon.

On Monday the Child Welfare Committee, Dumka said the class 12 student was a minor, based on her class 10 board examination mark sheet, and demanded action against the accused under the POCSO Act.

The committee said she was around 16 years old as per the mark sheet and not an adult as claimed by the police.

The National Commission for Women has written to the Jharkhand Police chief, calling for a fair investigation into the girl’s death.

“The Director General of Police has been directed to submit an early report on the progress of the investigation, which should be conducted by ADG rank officer,” Chief Minister Hemant Soren said in a Twitter post on Monday.