Jammu police made no ‘serious-minded effort’ to probe girl’s death, High Court transfers case to CBI

Justice Bharti also directed the CBI to apprise the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Jammu, of the status of the investigation within three months.

In its order, the court expressed concern over the “perfunctory” manner in which the police informed it of the status of the probe, wondering how the petitioner would have known about the state of the investigation without the court’s intervention.

The court further appeared troubled that no senior officer was monitoring a case that they “should have been self-ignited and invested” from the outset, particularly in light of the Supreme Court’s repeated concerns over women’s safety.

Referring to two status reports filed by the police, the judge said that from their cumulative reading, the court was unimpressed by the lack of “any serious-minded effort” to get to the bottom of the death.

With the passage of time, the case would “be losing its crucial evidence and result would be nothing but an adulterated version which would even leave this court to be like a spectator to cut sorry figure before the petitioner and wind up the petition as matter of ritual [sic]”.

“In the facts and circumstances of the case, this Court is fully convinced that it is a case which requires an investigation to be done by none else than the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Jammu,” it said.

The girl was found hanging from a tree near her residence on August 15, 2024.