LUCKNOW: The Allahabad High Court dismissed the petition filed by the suspended Station House Officer (SHO) Dinesh Kumar Verma seeking to quash criminal proceedings against him in connection with Hathras gang rape and murder case of a Dalit girl in 2020.The suspended SHO was booked over allegations of dereliction of duty.The High Court bench, comprising Justice Raj Beer Singh, condemned the SHO’s conduct as it took into account both procedural violations and a glaring lack of sensitivity in handling the case of the 19-year-old Dalit girl.The accused, who was the then SHO, is currently facing the CBI chargesheet for offences under sections 166A(b)(c) and 167 of the India Penal Code. In fact, as per the chargesheet, the petitioner is accused of failing to stop the media from approaching the victim and capturing her photographs and video inside the police station, despite it being his duty to safeguard the dignity of a victim of a sexual offence. Moreover, he also refused to take the severely injured victim to the hospital, either via a police vehicle or ambulance. Instead, he is accused of compelling the family to arrange a shared auto-rickshaw for transport despite the availability of police vehicles. He is also accused of getting false entries made in the general diary, including the claims that a lady constable was sent to examine the victim’s injuries. However, the constable arrived only after the victim was taken to the hospital. The CBI chargesheet also claimed that false entries were made stating that there were no injuries on the victim’s body without examining them. He even failed to register a case on the basis of the victim’s statement.Concluding that the petitioner did not act as per the law, rules and guidelines, CBI filed a chargesheet against him, challenging which he had moved HC.
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