Can't book parents for locking her up: police

The City police who rescued Hemavathi, the 35-year-old woman who was confined to her house for a decade, say they can neither register a case against her family nor investigate the matter as no complaint has been lodged.

A case could be registered if it emerged that she was illegally confined. “In this particular incident, the victim cannot speak clearly and hasn’t lodged a complaint against her parents. We cannot book a suo motu case,” S N Siddaramappa, DCP (North), told Deccan Herald.

At the most, the parents can be accused of being “indifferent” to her plight. “It doesn’t seem that her family had locked her up. Mere apathy on the part of her family cannot be the ground for initiating criminal action against them,” the police officer added.

Siddaramappa, however, hastened to add that a case would be registered and the matter investigated if the woman lodged a complaint when she got well.

Suo motu case

The State Human Rights Commission (SHRC), however, has taken up a suo motu case. C G Hungund, retired magistrate and a member of the SHRC, said that the Commission had ordered a high-level probe into the incident.

The probe will be headed by Sunil Agarwal, IGP, SHRC. Besides, the Commission has sent Radhakrishna, DySP, SHRC, to visit Hemavathi. Agarwal would speak to the woman on Wednesday and might record her statement as well, Hungund added.

In addition, the Commission has sought a detailed report on the incident from the jurisdictional DCP.