Cops rape and kill her, later label her a Naxal
Judicial probe into the incident found that the girl had nothing to do with Naxals
Raipur: A tribal girl raped and then killed, allegedly by policemen at Nawadih in north Chhattisgarh district of Balrampur in 2011, had nothing to do with Naxals, a judicial probe into the incident has found.
The one-member judicial commission headed by retired district and sessions judge Anita Jha, probing the incident, has dismissed the claim by the police that Meena Khalkho (13) was killed after being caught in a cross-fire between Naxals and security forces on the outskirts of the village of Nawadih on July 6, 2011 and that she was a Maoist.
"There is no police record to establish that Meena Khalkho was a Naxal. There was also no evidence to support the claim by the police that an encounter took place between Naxals and security forces at Nawadih on the day, since there were no reports of any casualty or injury to policeman in the incident," the commission said.
The commission, which submitted its report to the state government recently, found that Meena was raped and then killed.
She succumbed to injuries caused by police bullets, the probe revealed. The state government has earlier withdrawn 17 policemen deployed in the area and attached them to the local district headquarters following the incident.
Holding the police guilty of rape and murder of the minor tribal girl, the commission sought strong action against the erring policemen.
The commission also sought further probe by the crime investigation department. Meanwhile, the Opposition Congress has demanded a CBI probe into the incident in the wake of findings by the judicial commission.