Following protests, the Jharkhand High Court has taken immediate action to investigate the alleged rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl in Hazaribag, ordering a probe and prompting widespread demonstrations.
The Jharkhand High Court on Monday took suo motu cognisance of the alleged rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl at Bishnugarh in Hazaribag.
The court also served a notice to the state administration and director general of police in this regard, an advocate said.
A division bench of Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad and Justice Sanjay Prasad took note of the incident based on media reports.
The girl had gone with her mother to watch the 'Mangla' procession, a rally taken out as part of Ram Navami rituals, at her native village in Kusumba within Bishnugarh police station limits on the night of March 24.
Her family alleged in the FIR that she was abducted, and her body was found on March 25 at a field in the village.
Jharkhand DGP Tadasha Mishra had on Sunday said a three-member SIT has been constituted for a swift probe into the case.
The SIT is mandated to submit a progress report, along with details regarding the action taken thus far, within a week.
Meanwhile, the opposition BJP staged a 12-hour bandh in Hazaribag to protest against the incident.
There was no untoward incident reported from anywhere in the district, officials said.
The bandh evoked a mixed response. Shops and other retail outlets remained closed in the district, largely due to the weekly closure of wholesalers, while public transport services operated normally as educational institutions and commercial establishments, including banks, remained open.
Hazaribag MP Manish Jaiswal said the bandh was successful, as traders voluntarily shut their shops for the cause.
BJP state president Aditya Sahu said it would press for a Jharkhand bandh on April 3, if the administration failed to nab the culprits in the next two days.
Members of the Jharkhand BJP women's wing also staged a demonstration in Ranchi, seeking justice for the girl.
"Law and order has deteriorated in the state and women's safety is at stake," general secretary of the wing, Seema Singh, alleged.
In Jamshedpur, saffron party leaders demonstrated in front of the East Singhbhum district collectorate.
A delegation of the BJP Jamshedpur Mahanagar Mahila Morcha also submitted a memorandum addressed to the Jharkhand Governor, demanding immediate arrest of the perpetrators.
Congress leaders Amba Prasad and Yogendra Sao, along with party supporters, also held a protest demonstration at the Zila Parishad Chowk in Hazaribag.
Hazaribag Chamber of Commerce and Industries president Shambhu Nath Agarwal said that though there was a weekly closure of shops and wholesalers in the district on Monday, several traders voluntarily downed shutters.
"It is a heinous crime and we had appealed to the shopkeepers to express solidarity with the bandh," said Agarwal.