Cops failed to save Mattoo, says HC

Bhadra Sinha / TNN / Sep 28, 2006, 01:12 IST

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The Police had been lax in taking action against the accused even after repeated complaints from the victim, the HC said.

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday pulled up the police for failing to protect Priyadarshini Mattoo, who was raped and then murdered, allegedly by her classmate Santosh Singh in 1996. Throwing out a petition filed by retired ACP Prabhati Lal, seeking a direction to expunge the remarks made against him by the trial court, the bench of Justices R S Sodhi and P K Bhasin said: "The girl has died because of you and not the boy (accused)."
The judges alleged that the Delhi Police had been lax in taking action against the accused even after repeated complaints from the victim."What kind of a police force do we have in this town where no one is safe?" asked the Bench.
Unmoved by Lal’s plea, the judges made the observations when additional solicitor-general Amarendra Sharan told them that Mattoo was subjected to harassment for over two years by Singh. A complaint in this connection had been lodged with the Vasant Kunj police.
"The girl (Mattoo) had gone on and on bearing this onslaught," remarked the judges, expressing anguish over how the public suffered when they approached the police for help. They observed that the victim was forced to withdraw her complaint as the police put pressure on her to arrive at a compromise with the accused.
It was failure on the part of the police that encouraged the accused to harass Mattoo, felt the judges. Lal was in charge of the Delhi Cantonment sub-division and the Vasant Kunj police station came under his jurisdiction. Mattoo had complained about her harassment to the Vasant Kunj police and Lal had allegedly pushed for a compromise, instead of registering a criminal complaint.

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