सुप्रीम कोर्ट ने नर्स की मौत और यौन उत्पीड़न के मामले में उत्तराखंड सरकार से जवाब मांगा।

Supreme Court seeks response from Uttarakhand government in nurse's death and sexual harassment case.

The Supreme Court on Friday sought response from the Uttarakhand government on a petition seeking an independent probe into the death and sexual harassment of a nurse and compensation to the victim's family. A bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and also comprising Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Mishra issued notice to the state government and others on the petition. The petition was filed by the nurse's daughter through her maternal grandfather and maternal aunt, in which she has also sought further corrective measures. The deceased's daughter and sister, assisted by Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind president Maulana Arshad Madani, filed a petition in the Supreme Court of India. During the hearing, senior advocate Nitya Ramakrishnan told the court that the police investigation so far has been unsatisfactory. The police's behavior has been unprofessional from the beginning. Despite the deceased's missing report being filed, the police did not take any action for a week and only after people protested, started taking action and finally arrested a suspect. Senior advocate Ramakrishnan represented the petitioner along with advocates Sarim Naved, Shahid Nadeem, Astuti Ray and Mujahid Ahmad. According to the petition, the woman worked in a hospital in Rudrapur and was missing since July 30, 2024. The deceased's sister lodged a missing person report on the next date. On August 8, 2024, the victim's family was informed that a body was found about one and a half kilometres away from their house. "The body was found in a very decomposed state, with one arm and one leg missing and very little flesh on the head. The family members were able to identify her only from her clothes as her face was unrecognisable," the petition said. It also pointed out that an FIR was lodged on August 14 after the uproar. The fact that the FIR was not lodged even after a period of 6 days of finding the body raises serious questions on the conduct of the police. If the alleged murderer was taken into custody from Jodhpur on August 11, there is no reason or logic to delay the FIR further till August 14 if the investigation was fair and proper.

The fact is that it was only after agitation by local people and coverage in local media that the issue came into public view and the police registered an FIR and also claimed to have solved the case, the petition said. The petitioner sought a direction to issue a centralised alert in case the woman goes missing and is not traced within a reasonable time-frame and to conduct an independent probe into the matter under the supervision of a retired judge of the apex court.

The petitioner also sought compensation to them under the Uttarakhand Compensation Scheme for Victims/Survivors of Sexual Assault/Other Crimes, 2022. Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind president Maulana Arshad Madani welcomed the Supreme Court's decision to issue notice to the Uttarakhand government in the case. He said the job of dispensing justice, which was earlier the responsibility of the government, is now being done by the courts. He regretted that the court had to be approached to seek justice for the deceased. However, he said that like the incident in Kolkata, this too is very heartbreaking and horrific. He lamented that the previous incident made a lot of headlines at the national level, leading to protests and strikes by doctors across the country and extensive media coverage, but in this case no one paid attention or raised any protest. Maulana Madani raised the question whether justice in the country is now available only on religious grounds. He said that if there had been transparency and proper action as per the law in this case, then Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind would not have needed to go to the Supreme Court. He expressed happiness that the Supreme Court recognized the gravity of the matter, heard it and issued a notice to the Uttarakhand government. He also hoped that like many other cases, justice will be served in this case too.