JOIN USNational Commission for Women (NCW) member Rekha Sharma, on Tuesday, apprised DG&IGP Rupak Kumar Dutta on the status of a one-and-a-half-year-old case of inter-religious marriage.
The member demanded action against the investigating officer, who purportedly bungled the case by either not collecting precious evidence or by destroying evidence. The case was that of a kidnap registered as habeas corpus petition in a court in Mysuru by Shivaraj against his father-in-law for kidnapping his wife Haleema Shahin on December 4, 2015 in Mysuru.
Childhood friends Shivaraj and Haleema got married against the consent of the latter’s parents in 2015. Haleema’s father lodged a kidnap plaint against Shivaraj.
The couple was taken to a police station in Mangaluru, where Haleema told the police she married Shivaraj on her own will. The couple returned to Mysuru. Haleema’s father beat up Shivaraj and took his daughter forcibly in a car from Mysuru. Shivaraj filed a habeas corpus petition and the court ordered Haleema’s father to let go of his daughter.
The kidnap case registered by Shivaraj against his wife’s father at Lakshmipuram police station in Mysuru did not see any development over five to six months, said the NCW member. Rekha took the couple to Dutta’s office on Tuesday and apprised him of the case. Dutta instructed Mysuru Police Commissioner A Subramaneyswara Rao to look into the case. He also directed the Commissioner to take action against the IO if he was found to have manipulated the case.
Later, Rekha told reporters that junior rank police officers in Bengaluru investigating crimes against women should learn to converse in Hindi or English to communicate effectively with the complainants.