With the Uttar Pradesh Home department yet to take cognisance of an application demanding a CBI probe into the mysterious death of a girl in Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV) in Mainpuri, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has written a letter to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, seeking an urgent inquiry into the matter.
The Congress general secretary asserted that stern action in such matter was of utmost importance for the safety of girls in the state.
In her letter to Yogi Adityanath, the Congress leader said that the incident was heart wrenching and assumed importance in the context of security of girls studying in various institutions in the state.
“The body of Subhash Pandey’s daughter was found in the hostel with ante-mortem injuries but the autopsy was not done. The deceased’s family has suspected that the girl was murdered,” she said.
Priyanka said that the family of the deceased had raised several questions and asked for action to be taken by authorities.
“They have every right to know what happened to their daughter and who all were involved. Is the administration trying to shield someone,” she asked in the letter dated November 28.
Priyanka further wrote that in order to ensure justice for the deceased’s family, an unbiased inquiry be conducted and urged the chief minister to order a probe immediately.
Senior Congress leader and former Union minister, Jitin Prasada had last week visited the deceased’s family and expressed solidarity with them, and demanded an urgent inquiry.
On September 16, Anushka Pandey, a student of class 11 at Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya in Bhongaon (Mainpuri) allegedly committed suicide in the prayer room of her hostel.
She left a suicide note in which she accused her hostel inmates of being responsible for her death.
The girl’s father lodged a complaint against the principal, Sushma Sagar, hostel warden and a boy after which the police registered a case of rape and murder under POCSO Act.
Later, the police claimed to have found that three years back, a girl inmate of the hostel had accused the victim of stealing snacks after which, 48 students slapped her at the behest of hostel warden, in order to teach her a lesson. In the aftermath, Anushka was harassed every day despite her apologising. But when her ordeal did not cease, her father complained to the school administration but no action was taken. The victim also mentioned about this in her suicide note.
The family alleged that the victim was assaulted and injury marks were found on her body. They said that Anushka was a bright student and had secured 92.8 per cent in High School exams and aspired to be a doctor. They charged that the girl lost her life due to the negligence of college authorities.
The family also demanded a high-level probe and sat on dharna in front of the office of the district magistrate of Mainpuri. Their application was forwarded to the state government for action a month back but the Home department ‘forgot’ to take any action on it.
