The details have been sought to ascertain the role of these officials, arguing that half an hour after the ‘rapes’, senior officers showed up at Sukhdev Dhaba, an eatery on the Chandigarh–Delhi highway, and escorted the victims to the Delhi border

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 22

Little less than a year after the Punjab and Haryana High Court asserted that rape had evidently been committed in the fields of Murthal, a Division Bench today directed Haryana to supply the call details (with tower locations) of senior police officials, who “magically appeared” at Sukhdev Dhaba and “escorted women up to the Delhi border”.

 

Sukhdev Dhaba on the Chandigarh–Delhi highway was the hub of attention during the 2016 Jat agitation, as some women are stated to have taken refuge at the eatery following the incidents of violence. The dhaba owner had reportedly told the media about rapes, but denied it before the special investigating team of the Haryana Police probing the case.

As the case came up for resumed hearing this morning, the Division Bench of Justice Ajay Kumar Mittal and Justice Anupinder Singh Grewal was told by the amicus curiae or the friend of the court Anupam Gupta that he had received call details sans location.Elaborating, Gupta said he had received the call detail records of the then IGP, the Superintendent of Police, the Deputy Commissioner, the Deputy Superintendent of Police and the SHO concerned for the period specified in the order.However, the details did not specify the tower locations making it an exercise in futility. Gupta added the call details of the Sonepat SDM and the DSP (traffic), too, were required to be given.

 

Taking a note of his assertions, the Bench asked the state to provide cellular tower location details, along with the call records.Gupta had earlier sought the details to substantiate his contention that rape had taken place in Murthal. His submission was that police officials rushing to the spot was an indication of something amiss.Taking up the suo motu or “court on its own motion” case, the Bench on a previous date of hearing had asked the state government to provide the call details of the IGP, the SP, the DSP, the SHO and other policemen present in the Murthal area. The Bench had made it clear that the call details from February 19 to 22, 2016, were required to be furnished.

The orders were issued after Gupta submitted he was not in a position to ascertain whether the investigation was proceeding in the right direction, in the absence of statements of the witnesses and other related record.Restating the demand for a CBI probe, Gupta submitted that an investigation by the premier agency was the only hope for unveiling the truth behind the rape. Gupta reiterated that information available with him suggested Sukhdev Dhaba owner Amrik Singh knew the truth.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/haryana/murthal-rapes-hc-seeks-call-details-with-location/548128.html