The chairperson of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, Priyank Kanoongo, has alleged Kolkata police had clandestinely recorded the panel’s proceedings at a police station in connection with the alleged murder of a seven-year-old girl and that an officer assaulted him when he resisted the move.
Kanoongo and another member of the commission were in West Bengal on Friday to meet the parents of the seven-year-old girl, who was allegedly tortured and whose body was found in a gunny bag in the house of a neighbour last Sunday, and a family in Malda district.
Kanoongo tweeted in Hindi on the alleged incident at the police station. A rough translation of the tweet: “I have been assaulted by an officer (name of the officer) of Bengal police inside (name of the police station). The police officer was recording the proceedings of the NCPCR clandestinely. When I protested, he assaulted me.”
Kanoongo later sent a written complaint to officers of Kolkata police, including deputy commissioner (south-east) Subhankar Bhattacharya, who went to meet him on Friday night at a hotel where the chairman had checked in.
A senior officer at Lalbazar said Kanoongo’s statement, under Section 161 of the CrPC, would be treated as a complaint.