The NHRC has taken suo motu cognisance of a media report that a panchayat in the Baghpatdistrict of Uttar Pradesh asked the mother of a minor victim of sexual assault to take ₹5,000 from her daughter’s tormentors and terminate her pregnancy.

Reportedly, the criminals also issued life threats to the family if they did not adhere to their diktat. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) observed that the contents of the report, if true, amount to a grave violation of the victim’s human rights.

“Going by the media report, it is indeed painful to note that the village panchayat, instead of protecting the minor girl, connived in an unlawful act with the miscreants belonging to a resourceful section of society,” NHRC spokesperson Jaimini Kumar Srivastava said in a press release.

Notices have been issued to the chief secretary and thedirector-general of police, Uttar Pradesh, seeking a detailed report in a week. The report is expected to include the status of the FIR and action taken against the guilty, along with the victim’s health condition and compensation, if any, provided to her by the authorities concerned, therelease said.

According to the report carried on June 19, the family complained to the police stating that in December 2023, a person from the village forcibly entered their house and raped the minor.

When the family tried to complain, the accused threatened to kill the minor’s mother, brother and sister. The criminal then raped the girl five to six times leading to her pregnancy. When the family tried to lodge a complaint, they were forced to attend the panchayat, where ₹5,000 was reportedly offered to them.