New Delhi, Mar 17 (PTI) The apex child rights body NCPCR said it found many lapses on the part of the investigating authorities in connection with the killing of a minor boy in Jharkhand's Hazaribagh clash and sought a CBI inquiry into it.

Tension gripped parts of Hazaribagh district after the 17-year-old boy, Rupesh Kumar Pandey, was killed at Barhi on February 6 in a clash during the immersion procession of the idol of goddess Saraswati resulting in communal tension in the area.

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The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) visited Barhi, Hazaribagh for the purpose of conducting an inquiry and to take stock of the progress of investigation.

During the visit of the team of officials, many lapses were found on the part of the investigating authorities as to how they have failed to follow due process of law as well as the procedure established by law while investigating the incident, according to the action taken report by NCPCR.

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"To look into these lapses, it is necessary that the matter be transferred to some independent Investigating agency. It is recommended that such agency may preferably be a central agency such as the CBI to conduct an impartial and fair investigation," it said.

During the visit and inquiry, many discrepancies and lapses were observed by the NCPCR team related to the investigaiion conducted by the authorities into the death of the minor and other co-related instances.

"It has been observed by the team NCPCR that throughout the investigation, the Police Authorities have failed to follow procedure under the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015, Code of Criminal Procedure and other laws," it said.

During the interaction of the NCPCR's team with the child welfare committee (CWC), it was informed that after the said incident took place, the CWC inquired about the incident and the involvement of children in the instantaneous matter from the investigative authorities as they had got information regarding the same through media.

"During the interaction, it was also informed to the Team that the authorities did not inform the CWC regarding involvement of any children in the incident neither were they informed about the 16 minor children whose names were added as accused in the FIRs.

"It has been observed by the team of officials during their interaction with the child welfare police officer, that one minor child was arrested by police at around 2 am and was further detained at the police station," the report said.

During the interaction, it was informed to NCPCR that the minor was arrested by the police officials in uniform.

"These actions of the police have been observed by NCPCR to be in violation of the provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act and its rules and the due procedure of criminal law to be followed for children," it said.

Hazaribagh Superintendent of Police Manoj Ratan Chothe said four people have been arrested in connection with the incident. He, however, insisted that the clash was a fallout of an “old rivalry” and no communal interest was involved in it.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)