Skip to main content

No end to woes of "abducted" Dalit girl's parents: NCW told to investigate cops' role

Indo-Bangladesh border, where girls' trafficking is rampant
Counterview Desk
Well-known civil rights activist from West Bengal, Kirity Roy, secretary, Mahila Sarvangeen Utkarsh Mandal (MASUM), and national convener, Programme Against Custodial Torture and Impunity (PACTI), in a letter to the chairperson, National Commission for Women (NCW), has urged immediate action to expedite investigation regarding the abduction of a 17-year-old girl, daughter of a Dalit below poverty line category, belonging to Sabaipur village of the North 24 Parganas district.
Pointing towards police indifference Roy says, though India has “substantial legislations dealing with kidnapping and abduction of women and girls and subsequent trafficking for immoral purposes”, things refuse to move, especially in the Indo-Bangladesh bordering district, which is “infamous for trafficking of girls for immoral purposes”, accusing the law enforcement authorities for being in a state of “deep slumber”.

Text of the complaint:

Here I want to draw your kind attention over an incident of abduction of a minor girl and subsequent police inaction. The girl was abducted as alleged from her uncle’s house. An FIR was registered after the minor’s father filed a complaint with the police, as no proper investigation done, the father sent a letter to the Superintendent of Police of the district that too not bear any fruit and nobody was booked under the law and girl was not rescued.
Priya Shikari ( actual name withheld with purpose), aged about 17 years at the time of the incident (date of birth October 7, 2001), daughter of Prasanta Shikari and Subhadra Shikari of village Sabaipur, Post Office Nokpul, Police Station Bongaon, District North 24 Paraganas used to stay at the house of her paternal uncle, Sanat Haldar (husband of her paternal aunt) at village-Gobra, Post Gobindpur, Police Station Swarupnagar, District North 24 Paraganas from last four years.
 Prasanta Shikari, father, belongs to a Schedule Caste (SC) community and Bellow Poverty Line (BPL) category and he was not in a position to continue the educational expenses of his daughter, so the girl was shifted to Sanat Haldar’s house. The girl passed her secondary examination in the year 2017 from local Beri Gopalpur Adarsha Vidyalaya.
On October 25, 2018 at evening, paternal aunt of the girl was not at her resident and while she returned from the rural market; she found the girl was not at home. Neighbours were also unaware about her whereabouts. The co-villagers’ along with the family members made a search for the girl but failed to locate her.
Next day, on October 26, 2018, Prasanta Shikari submitted a written complaint to Swarupnagar Police Station; and the complaint was registered as Swarupnagar PS Case No. 537/18 date October 26, 2018, under sections 363/365 of Indian Penal Code. On the above-mentioned complaint, Prasanta Shikari alleged that her daughter has been abducted with immoral intention and provided a mobile phone number of a suspect to the police. But nobody was booked; no proper investigation over the incident was made.
More than five months passed from the day of the incident, the poor father made several visits to the Swarupnagar police station, met with the Officer in Charge (OC) and the Investigating Officer (IO) of the case, Ganesh Haldar, Sub Inspector; but all the time the OC and the IO made lame excuses and confirmed their disinterest.
Upset and dejected father of the girl, Prasanta Shikari then sent a written complaint to the Superintendent of Police, North 24 Paraganas on February 25, 2019 urging immediate rescue of his daughter. He also mentioned that he repeatedly requested the Investigation Officer to rescue his daughter, but the IO not shown his due concern and somehow avoided his plea time and again.
India has substantial legislations dealing with kidnapping and abduction of women and girls and subsequent trafficking for immoral purposes and the mentioned area of Indo-Bangladesh bordering district is infamous for trafficking of girls for immoral purposes but shockingly the law enforcement agency having responsibility to investigate this malice and rescue the affected girls are in deep slumber, most of the time their inaction is basically acquiescence with the offenders.
This incident and subsequent inaction of police drew severe violation of related sections and rules of The Immoral Traffic Prevention Act, 1986, The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 and The Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences Rules, 2012, further the inaction of police was against the pledge; which the Government of India has taken during the Fourth World Conference on Women, known as Beijing Declaration, where the government had said that they are determined to Prevent and eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls.
Under such circumstances we sincerely urge your urgent intervention and request for under mentioned action to extend justice to the affected family and the girl.
  1. A neutral, urgent and proper investigation of the above incident.
  2. The minor girl must be rescued immediately and rehabilitated properly. 
  3. Perpetrators must be booked and prosecuted under specific charges. 
  4. Role of the investigating officer of the case and Officer in Charge of the mentioned police station must be investigated. 
  5. The lackadaisical police must be punished accordingly.

Comments

TRENDING

Importance of Bangladesh for India amidst 'growing might' of China in South Asia

By Samara Ashrat*  The basic key factor behind the geopolitical importance of Bangladesh is its geographical location. The country shares land borders with Myanmar and India. Due to its geographical position, Bangladesh is a natural link between South Asia and Southeast Asia.  The country is also a vital geopolitical ally to India, in that it has the potential to facilitate greater integration between Northeast India and Mainland India. Not only that, due to its open access to the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh has become significant to both China and the US.

Unlike other revolutionaries, Hindutva icon wrote 5 mercy petitions to British masters

By Shamsul Islam*  The Hindutva icon VD Savarkar of the RSS-BJP rulers of India submitted not one, two,or three but five mercy petitions to the British masters! Savarkarites argue: “There are no evidences to prove that Savarkar collaborated with the British for his release from jail. In fact, his appeal for release was a ruse. He was well aware of the political developments outside and wanted to be part of it. So he kept requesting for his release. But the British authorities did not trust him a bit” (YD Phadke, ‘A complex Hero’, "The Indian Expres"s, August 31, 2004)

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

'BBC film shows only tip of iceberg': Sanjiv Bhatt's daughter speaks at top US press club

By Our Representative   The United States' premier journalists' organisation, the National Press Club (NPC), has come down heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for recent "attacks on journalists in India." Speaking at the screening of an episode of the BBC documentary “India: The Modi Question,” banned in India, in the club premises, NPC President Eileen O’Reilly said, “Since Modi came to power we have watched with frustration and disappointment as his regime has suppressed the rights of its citizens to a free and independent news media."

Chinese pressure? Left stateless, Rohingya crisis result of Myanmar citizenship law

By Dr Shakuntala Bhabani*  A 22-member team of Myanmar immigration officials visited Rohingya refugee camps in Cox's Bazar to verify more than 400 Rohingya refugees as part of a pilot repatriation project. Does it hold out any hope for the forcibly displaced people to return to their ancestral homes in the Rakhine state of Myanmar? Only time will tell.

'A disaster in the making': Expansion of oil palm plantations in Northeast India

By Rupa Chinai, Ravi Chellam*  Until a few decades ago, India was nearly 100% self-sufficient in edible oils, with a diverse variety of oilseeds that were grown and consumed sustainably in keeping with the ecological and climatic conditions of different regions in the country. Today, India is highly reliant on palm oil imports to meet its vegetable oil demands. 

China ties up with India, Bangladesh to repatriate Rohingyas; Myanmar unwilling

By Harunur Rasid*  We now have a new hope, thanks to news reports that were published in the Bangladeshi dailies recently. Myanmar has suddenly taken initiatives to repatriate Rohingyas. As part of this initiative, diplomats from eight countries posted in Yangon were flown to Rakhine last week. Among them were diplomats from Bangladesh, India and China.

40,000 Odisha adolescent girls ask CM: Why is scheme to fight malnutrition on paper?

By Our Representative  In unique a postcard campaign to combat malnutrition, aimed at providing dietary diversity, considered crucial during adolescence, especially among girls, signed by about 40,000 adolescent girls from over 10,000 villages, have reminded Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik that his government's Scheme for Adolescent Girls (SAG), which converged with Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman  ( POSHAN ) 2.0 in 2021, is not being implemented in the State.

Natural farming: Hamirpur leads the way to 'huge improvement' in nutrition, livelihood

By Bharat Dogra*  Santosh is a dedicated farmer who along with his wife Chunni Devi worked very hard in recent months to convert a small patch of unproductive land into a lush green, multi-layer vegetable garden. This has ensured year-round supply of organically grown vegetables to his family as well as fetched several thousand rupees in cash sales.