GUWAHATI: The Assam government will reopen any case of unnatural death if the family of the deceased approached the superintendent of police concerned expressing grievance that the investigation was incomplete and the police too believe there is a grey area.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Friday he had given this direction to the police during a recent conclave with the SPs of the state. He was briefing journalists on a recent case of alleged murder of a 13-year-old girl who worked at the house of an SSB jawan in Darrang district as a domestic help.
The accused SSB jawan claimed she died by hanging. The CID of the police arrested Darrang SP, Additional SP, officer-in-charge of a local police station and a magistrate for “sabotaging” evidence. Three government doctors were also arrested for lapses.
“In any unnatural case of death, if the guardians have grievances such as that the investigation was not complete or the case could have been investigated further, they can meet the SP. The SP will look afresh at the case if there is a grey area. It could even be a 15-year-old case. There is no time bar in criminal cases,” Sarma said.
The state government also decided that after every incident of unnatural death, the SP and the DIG concerned would visit the site from now on. “I said at the SP’s conference that whenever there is an incident of unnatural death, particularly murder and suicide, the SP and the DIG will visit the site. The case will not be closed until they are satisfied,” Sarma said.
Stating that efforts are being made to strengthen the system, he said, “There are often cases of sexual assault of domestic helps and their murder. The accused would claim the victim had committed suicide. Sometimes, post-mortem and inquest reports do not help the police, rather they help the accused,” the CM said.
Talking about the incident in Darrang, he said someone had alerted him on WhatsApp late at night. He said he had suspected something was wrong, as the police had arrested the prime accused only after he had intervened.
“It is for the court to decide (if those arrested are guilty) but our investigation shows that there was a compromise right from SP, ASP, OC, magistrate to the three doctors,” Sarma said. “Through this inquiry, we sent a strong message to the police, magistrates and doctors to do their duties diligently,” the CM added. After the incident, he visited the house of the deceased along with Director General of Police Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta. Later, the case was handed over to the CID.