The Supreme Court has sought the Madhya Pradesh government’s response on the plea of a Dalit woman seeking a CBI probe into the murder of her daughter, son and a relative in Sagar district and the shift of the trial outside the state.

No action has been taken against the accused yet as a former state home minister who is now a sitting MLA is protecting them, the petitioner alleged.

A bench of Justice J.K. Maheshwari and Justice Aravind Kumar on January 22 issued the notice to the state and posted the matter for further hearing after six weeks.

The bench passed the directions after senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, appearing for the woman, told the bench that the murders were revenge for the family lodging a police complaint after her 15-year-old daughter was molested in January 2019 by some youths, one of whom was a close aide of the then minister.

Although the family lodged a complaint immediately, local cops allegedly tried to hush up the matter and did not even register a case under the Pocso (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act.

Gonsalves told the court that in August 2023, the accused brutally murdered the victim’s brother. In May last year, the accused killed the uncle of the 15-year-old who was witness to the murder of the victim’s brother. The next day, the accused killed the victim. The family wants the trial to be shifted out of the state as they are being threatened, the lawyer said.