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Journalism of Courage
The National Human Rights Commission has taken suo motu cognisance of a media report about the abduction, rape and murder of a minor girl, as well as the death in an alleged police encounter of a man arrested over the crime in Karnataka’s Hubballi.
Accused of raping and murdering the minor girl, Bihar native Ritesh Kumar was shot in the leg and back when he allegedly attacked police on April 13.
According to the police, he was declared dead when taken to the Karnataka Medical College and Research Institute. He had been working as a labourer in the area for a few months.
In a press statement, the commission said it had observed that the contents of the news report, if true, raised a serious violation of the human rights of the minor girl as well as the man killed in the alleged encounter with the police. It has issued notices to the chief secretary and the director-general of police, calling for a detailed report on the matter within four weeks. The report is expected to include the postmortem examination and magisterial inquiry reports of both the minor girl and the man.
Soon after the girl’s body was recovered, angry locals protested outside the Ashok Nagar police station demanding the arrest of the accused, the statement said citing the news report, dated April 14, 2025.
Ritesh Kumar was arrested within hours of the incident. He was being taken for questioning when he allegedly tried to attack the police, “resulting in gunshot injuries to him, leading to his death”, the statement added.
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