Jharkhand High Court slams ‘lethargic attitude’ of police after 12-year-old’s rape and murder, takes suo motu cognisance

A bench of Justices Sujit Narayan Prasad and Anubha Rawat Choudhary took suo motu cognisance of the matter.

Suo motu case

The court was informed by a counsel (amicus) that although the FIR was instituted on March 25, 2026 no arrest was made in the case.

It was further alleged that the victim’s mother, a daily wage worker at a brick kiln, has been facing threats, and attempts are being made to tamper with evidence by exerting pressure on her.

The court also called upon the superintendent of police, Hazaribagh, to join the proceedings virtually and explain the status of the investigation.

During the hearing, the SP informed the court that efforts were being made to identify the accused using technical evidence, including mobile location tracking. However, he admitted that no arrests had been made so far.

“This Court in the aforesaid context is of the view that what type of investigation is being conducted since in such a heinous nature of crime, even after lapse of 05 days, the culprit has not been arrested,” the court said.

The bench also expressed concern that crucial forensic samples collected during the investigation had not yet been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL).

“This Court further posed a question that as to whether the samples, which have been collected, have been sent to the FSL or not then, the S.P., Hazaribagh has stated that as of now, the same have not been sent to the FSL and for that, an application is to be filed before the Court for getting permission to sent the samples to the FSL,” the court noted.

The SP stated that permission from the court was required for the same, a claim that was contested by the amicus, who argued that such permission was not necessary.

Directions

Considering the facts and circumstances, the court issued the following directions-

• Let notice be issued upon the secretary, DGP, state of Jharkhand and SP, Hazaribagh and they are directed to file their respective affidavits.
• The DGP, state of Jharkhand is directed to look into the matter as to why even after a lapse of 05 days, the samples, which is the prime evidence of the occurrence, has not yet been sent to the FSL and why the same has been kept in the possession of the investigating officer. Let appropriate affidavits be filed in this regard.
• Member Secretary, JHALSA is directed to look into the matter under the scope of the scheme which has been floated by the JHALSA as also instruct the secretary, DLSA to work in tandem with the investigating officer so that there may not be any tampering of the evidence.

The court warned that the SP, Hazaribagh will be held personally accountable if any untoward incident happened with the family members of the victim and important witnesses.

The court directed the matter to be placed before the chief justice.