You are a party to all cases of honour killing, Delhi Police told

The Delhi Police on Thursday came in for sharp condemnation by the Delhi High Court for lodging rape cases in elopement matters and conniving with disagreeing parents in cases where children married against their wishes.

Taking a jibe at the investigating agency for making a herculean effort to trace a missing dog of the incumbent Delhi Police Commissioner in 2008, Vacation Judge S. N. Dhingra observed: “You can search the entire city if a dog of your boss is lost, but you cannot provide protection to a young couple against the so-called honour killing.''

On registration of rape cases against boys at the instance of the girls' parents in elopement cases, Justice Dhingra said: “It is unfortunate that elopement cases are converted into rape cases. Your are a party to all cases of honour killing. You connive with the parents and turn your face the other side. You send boys behind bars on rape charges and allow parents to kill their daughters.''

“How can you be so insensitive for a few rupees! In case of elopement, you register a case under Section 376 (376) of the Indian Penal Code. You do not register a case or take action where you must,'' the Court observed.

The Court made these observations while hearing a case brought to its notice by the Delhi Legal Services Authority in which the police had sent a boy to jail for eloping with a girl who is pregnant and has no other person to take care of as her parents have deserted her.

The police took the action on a complaint by her parents that she had been raped by the boy. The Court asked the Tihar Central Jail authorities and the police to produce the boy and the girl before it on Friday to decide their fate.