LUCKNOW: A 12-year-old girl left those manning the Inspector General office at Varanasi on Wednesday morning in a state of shock when she came with an application seeking euthanasia. Not sure what to do when the cops on duty took her to the IG, SK Bhagat, where she remained adamant on her demand.
Does she know what is she asking for? When asked, the girl - Anushka from Chanduali district, 30 km from Varanasi - told IG Bhagat that either justice should be done to her or she should be allowed to end her life.
Narrating her woes to the police, Anushka accused her maternal uncle of 'selling' her mother and lodging a false dowry harassment case against her father after which he was in jail for the last one year. She also charged the local Chanduali police with apathy and supine attitude towards her repeated pleas, seeking justice for her family and protection from her uncle.
Taking note of her application the ordered Chandauli police chief Deepika Tiwari to probe into the matter.
Anushka told cops that her father, Om Prakash Pandey, of Barthara Khurd village in Chandauli, married her mother Gudia 13 years ago.
The couple had two daughters and a son with Anushka being the eldest. According to Anushka, last year on November 15 her maternal uncle Chandrashekhar Tiwari of Pipari came and took her mother Gudia along with him.
Anushka said that her mother had promised to return the same evening after meeting her ailing maternal grandmother, but she did not.
As Om Prakash approached Tiwari to send Gudia back, he lodged an FIR against the former accusing him of harassing Gudia for dowry.
Even after repeated efforts by her father and other family members, Anushka’s mother did not return home. On December 15, 2015, acting on Tiwari’s FIR, Chanduali police arrested Om Prakash who is in jail since then.
Now, the three children, including Anushka, are left alone with their aged grandparents. According to the girl, her grandparents were barely managing the to meet their daily needs and their studies had been stopped due to lack of money.
Moreover, the family has a suspicion that Tiwari had sold Gudia to someone and was now having an eye on Anushka and her sister also.
Taking a serious note of her application, IG Bhagat asked Anushka to go to Chandauli to meet the district police chief. He said that SP Chandauli had been directed to probe the matter personally and give report to him at earliest.
Bhagat assured that necessary action would be initiated immediately after getting the investigation report to ensure justice to the girl and her family.