Denied permission for hearing on crime against women: NCW

Abrar said the NCW came into action only after the state commission failed to respond to the recent incidents of crime against women. “I had also called the chairman of the state women commission for a meeting but she did not bother to turn up,” she said.

When asked about the visit of NCW chief and failure of the state government officers to be part of the meeting called by her,Balvinder Kumar,Principal Secretary,state Women and Child Development Department,clarified,“Since,she wanted to review a long list of cases,we just requested to postpone the meeting.”

Meanwhile,the NCW chief said the commission has now fixed the meeting on July 7 as the government says it could not send officials for the meeting because they were informed late about it. She further said if non-cooperation on the part of the state government continued,the commission would summon them by invoking its special powers.

“I had called a hearing of aggrieved women and their families,followed by a meeting with officials of medical and health,police as well as women and child development departments,” she said.

Later in the day,Abrar visited Nighasan in Lakhimpur district where a 14-year-old girl was allegedly raped and murdered in police station premises on June 10. She further claimed they collected some “blood-stained cotton rapped inside a polythene bag and thrown behind the room where the rape had allegedly taken place” and sent it for forensic examination suspecting it to be related to the crime.

On her way back to Lucknow,Abrar visited the family of a 12-year-old girl in Sitapur district who was also raped and murdered last week.

“The Lakhimpur case is a 100 per cent gangrape and murder case but the state government has failed to investigate it properly,” she said.