Even as the Uttar Pradesh government announced on Wednesday the setting up of a three-member panel of senior women IPS officers to review heinous crimes against women and suggest action, there seems to be no let-up in incidents. In the past 24 hours, the body of a 16-year-old girl was found hanging from a tree in Sitapur district with the assailants still at large.
Director-General of Police Anand Lal Banerjee said here on Wednesday that three IPS officers — Sutapa Sanyal, Tanuja Srivastava and Tilottima Verma — would be on the panel to review cases of crime against women and suggest action to be taken.
Mr. Banerjee said it had also been made mandatory for the District Police Chief, the Deputy Inspector-General and the Inspector-General to visit the scene of crime within a stipulated time frame.
The Sitapur incident occurred in Benipur village under the Misrikh police on Monday. A police spokesman said in Lucknow on Wednesday that the minor girl’s body was found hanging from a mango tree outside the village late on Monday night after the victim was reported missing by her parents. While the girl’s parents suspect that their daughter was murdered, the police have claimed that the minor had committed suicide as one of the accused was exerting pressure to marry him.
In the FIR filed on Tuesday at the Misrikh police station by the girl’s family members, six persons — Pyarelal, Sharma, Naresh, Ram Vilas, Raju and Ramesh — have been named accused. It is alleged that Ramesh was exerting force on the girl to marry him and was strangled when she refused. No arrests have been made so far.
Meanwhile, policemen have been asked to venture out in the field and establish a dialogue with the people in their respective areas. After assuming charge on Wednesday, the new Principal Secretary (Home), Deepak Singhal, told presspersons that the public had to be satisfied with policing and women must feel safe. As a first step in this direction, Mr. Singhal said he would be visiting Aligarh, Meerut and Moradabad along with the DGP on Thursday.
