‘NCW, PMO misled by Noida police’ Noida, December 27 Questioning the action taken by the Noida police to prevent the Nithari killings, the victims’ kin and activists working with them have alleged that officers of the Noida police misled the National Commission for Women and, subsequently, the Prime Minister’s Office was misled too. Commodore Lokesh Batra, an
RTI and social activist who is planning to organise a meet at Jantar Mantar on December 29, said today, “We need to let the world know how officials from our governance system, who could have saved many lives if they had gone about their duties properly, have all gone scot-free.”
In explanations given to the National Commission for Women (NCW) through an action taken report on six girls missing from Nithari village in 2005, the Noida police mentioned that teams were sent to various places like Muzaffarnagar, Faridabad and Gurgaon, among other cities in the state and elsewhere in the country.
Police records, according to information received in a letter under a
RTI application on January 4 earlier this year, say that no officer has ever claimed reimbursements after such visits. “It is amazing how officers of the (Noida) police kept paying for all the tours from their own pockets. They were either too concerned or no such search attempts were ever made,” Batra said.
In a letter dated January 10, 2007, written by Inspector General of Meerut Zone Jagmohan Yadav to the Additional Director General of Police (Human Rights), Lucknow it is mentioned that a letter sent by a committee of the NCW looking into the case of the six missing girls on September 9, 2005 was never received at the office of the then Noida Senior Superintendent of Police Piyush Mordia.
Interestingly, in a letter sent to the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Meerut Zone, dated December 12, 2005 Piyush Mordia himself mentions attaching a copy of the action taken report on a request sent through a letter dated September 9, 2005 along with the original letter. “Clearly, high ranking officers were trying to save each other when questioned by the NCW and even resorted to blatant lying and denial in the effort to do so,” Batra said.
After the NCW committee reported that six girls were missing, DIG Meerut disputed their claim, saying the number of missing girls was five. Jhabbu Lal, who registered his case in 2005, said, “All six families had appeared before the NCW and submitted their complaints with copies of the FIRs.” In a letter sent to the Noida SSP by the then Additional SP Saumitra Yadav, dated September 9, 2005 Jhabbu Lal’s complaint that, “We suspect that the person responsible for children going missing is from the Nithari village”, was quoted. “If action had been taken instead of suppressing figures and cases, so many people might not have lost their children,” Batra said.
While Payal (whose murder case is presently with the Special CBI court in Ghaziabad) had been missing since May 7, 2006 and even an FIR was not registered, in a letter written to the PMO in September 2006, Shailendra Pratap Singh, the then DIG Meerut Zone, said the Noida Police was taking all necessary actions.
“Had the necessary action actually been taken, the reality would have been different today,” Batra said. According to information provided by the Noida Police in a reply to a
RTI application on February 19 earlier this year, there was no chowki in-charge at the Nithari police post for three months, from February 20 to May 23 in 2005, around the time when the first missing case, of Rimpa haldhar, was reported, on February 10. Once again, an FIR was not registered. Also, on an average, no officer stayed there for more than two to three months.
Batra said, “I have filed several applications under the
RTI Act and this information proves the negligence of officers and lays open their attempt at cover-up after that.”
‘NCW, PMO misled by Noida police’ 