NHRC asks Bihar, Delhi Police to investigate allegations of harassment of rape victim's parents

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Tuesday asked the Director General of Police, Bihar and the Delhi Police Commissioner to investigate the alleged harassment of a rape victim's parents.

The case relates to the sexual exploitation of a girl by the employees of a residential school of Vaishali in Bihar. After lodging a complaint, the victim's father was allegedly falsely implicated by the Delhi Police and a threat to arrest her mother was also given, who has been forced to take shelter in Gurudwaras in the National Capital and beg to feed her two daughters.

The police officials have been given six weeks to respond.

The Commission also asked its Director General (Investigation) to depute a team of officers for the enquiry into the matter covering all allegations made in the complaint and submit the report.

The victim's mother, in her complaint to the Commission, had alleged that at the instance of the rape accused, her husband was falsely implicated by Delhi Police and is lodged in Tihar Jail.

During the course of enquiry, the Commission found that the allegations of the complainant regarding the connivance of the police with the accused persons appeared to have merit, given the ever changing story of the police investigation.

Justice D. Murugesan, Member, NHRC has observed that the possibility of undue influence on the victim and her family to compromise the matter also cannot be ruled out. The petitioner has not only faced trauma in Bihar but also in Delhi. The allegations, if found true, raise a serious issue of continuous issue of violation of human rights of the rape victim and her parents.