Supreme Court seeks Uttarakhand Government's reply in nurse murder case

New Delhi [India], September 13 : The Supreme Court on Friday sought the Uttarakhand government's reply to a plea seeking an independent inquiry into the death and sexual assault of a nurse and compensation for the victim's family.
A bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and also comprising justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Mishra issued notice to the state government and others on the petition.
The plea was filed by the daughter of the nurse through her maternal grandfather and maternal aunty, whereby she has also sought further ameliorative measures. With the assistance of President of Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind Maulana Arshad Madani, the deceased's daughter and sister filed the petition in the Supreme Court of India.
During the hearing, Senior Advocate Nitya Ramakrishnan informed the court that the police investigation so far has been unsatisfactory. From the beginning, the police's conduct has been unprofessional. Despite the report of the deceased's disappearance being filed, the police took no action for a week, and only after public protests did they start taking action, eventually arresting a suspect.
Senior Advocate Ramakrishnan with advocates Sarim Naved, Shahid Nadeem, Astuti Ray and Mujahid Ahmed represented the petitioner.
According to the petition, women worked in a hospital in Rudrapur and was missing since July 30, 2024. The deceased sister lodged a missing report on the next date. On August 8, 2024, the victim's family was informed that a corpse had been found about one and a half kilometres from their house.
"The corpse was found in a state of extreme decomposition with one hand and one foot missing and the head reduced to a skull with barely any flesh on it. The family were only able to identify her from her clothes as her face was unrecognisable," the petition said and adding further, it also highlighted that FIR was registered on August 14 after hue and cry.
"The fact that an FIR was not even registered for a period of 6 days since the body was found raises grave questions about the conduct of the police. If the alleged murderer was detained on August 11 from Jodhpur, there is no reason or rationale, if the investigation was fair and proper, for the FIR to be further delayed till August 14. The fact is that it is only because the issue became public after agitation by local people and coverage in the local media that the police filed an FIR and simultaneously claimed to solve the case," the petition said.
The petitioner urged to direct to mandate a centralised alert in case a woman is reported to be missing and cannot be located within a reasonable time-frame and to institute an independent inquiry in the case under the supervision of a retired judge of the top court. The petitioner also sought to make compensation to them under the Uttarakhand Compensation Scheme for Women Victims/Survivors of Sexual Assault/ Other Crimes, 2022.
President of Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind Maulana Arshad Madani welcomed the Supreme Court's decision to issue a notice to the Uttarakhand government in the case. He remarked that the task of delivering justice, which was previously the responsibility of the government, is now being handled by the courts.
He expressed regret that it had to come knocking on the court's door to seek justice for the deceased. However, as the incident that took place in Kolkata, this is also a very heartbreaking and horrific incident, he said.
He lamented that while the earlier incident received significant national attention, leading to protests and strikes by doctors across the country and extensive media coverage, this case has seen a complete lack of attention and outcry.
Maulana Madani questioned whether justice in the country is now only available based on religious grounds. He noted that if there had been transparency and proper action according to the law in this case, Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind might not have needed to approach the Supreme Court. He expressed happiness that the Supreme Court recognised the seriousness of the case, conducted a hearing, and issued a notice to the Uttarakhand government. He also expressed hope that, like many other cases, justice will be served in this case too.