New recruits of the Indian Police Service, currently undergoing training at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy in Hyderabad, recently learnt the details of a case in Jharkhand which provided an example on how to conduct a swift and proper police investigation, an officer has said.

“Yes, I took an online class last Thursday (July 16) where I told the IPS trainees about the case in Dumka earlier this year,” said Godda superintendent of police Y.S. Ramesh. He was the Dumka SP when the incident took place.

“The case was an example of how investigation can be completed and even judgment delivered in less than a month after the crime was committed,” Ramesh told The Telegraph.

The police submitted the chargesheet backed up by both legal and scientific evidences and the trial was taken up and even judgment delivered in a record time, he added.

The case was the gang rape and murder of a six-year-old girl by a distant relative and his two accomplices on February 5 at Kambindha village under Ramgarh police station in Dumka district. The main accused had lured the girl from her home on the pretext of visiting a fair. The victim’s body was recovered by the police on February 7.

The main accused, Meethu Rai, was arrested from Kalyan station near Mumbai on February 8. His two accomplices, Pankaj Mahali and Ashok Rai, were later picked up from Poreyahat in Godda district.

While the police worked on collecting evidences for processing the case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act and various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), a team of forensic experts was also pressed into service.

“The chargesheet was filed on February 25 and the trial began on February 28,” Ramesh said, adding the judgment was delivered on March 3.

Dumka district and sessions judge Taufiqul Hasan, who also acted as the special judge of the Pocso court, worked overtime to complete the examination of witnesses on three working days — February 28, February 29 and March 2 — and delivered the judgment on March 3. The judge awarded death sentences to all the three accused, besides imposing a fine of Rs 50,000.

“The case showed that a swift investigation followed by a speedy trial helped instil in people a sense of confidence and respect for the police, administration and judiciary,” Ramesh said, when asked if the people who were initially outraged over the incident were satisfied.

People were said to be happy when the alleged rapists of a 26-year-old veterinarian were killed in an alleged encounter in Hyderabad on December 6 last year. However, human rights activists have said that extra-judicial killings without giving the accused a chance to plead their innocence in courts are not a solution.