The chairperson of State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR) Usha Negi recently received a complaint letter of a sexual assault against a minor girl in January. According to the letter received by the commission, a 16 year old girl was allegedly sexually assaulted by an electrician from Kewal Vihar, named Gautam, on January 28 when her mother was at her parent's house. The complainant said in the letter that the accused threatened the girl stating that if she will tell about this incident to anybody or file a police complaint, he will kill her and her family. When the mother of the victim returned from her parent’s house, as per the letter, she found her very quiet and sad but the girl did not tell anything to her mother due to the fear of the accused. However, after some time, the victim complained of stomach ache and her mother found that the victim had a miscarriage, as per the complainant.

According to the letter, the victim told everything to her mother about the sexual assault after this incident.

However, as per the complainant, the mother is a poor and illiterate woman who was scared of the accused too but after some people convinced her to file a complaint against the accused, she approached the commission.

Taking action on this complaint, Negi wrote a letter to Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) of Dehradun and directed him to file a case against the accused Gautam under the POCSO Act.

She further added that since the victim is a minor and cannot be presented at the police station as it is against the law under the POCSO Act, police should investigate the matter using their discretion. Negi directed SSP to submit the investigation report to the commission within 15 days.