The NHRC has sent a notice to the Uttar Pradesh government and the state's DGP over three policemen in Saharanpur allegedly refusing to take two injured boys to a hospital as they did not want blood stains in their PCR van.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in a statement today observed that the reported "insensitive and hard-hearted attitude" of the police personnel had caused loss of two lives.
The rights panel has issued a notice to the Director General of Police (DGP), Uttar Pradesh, and sought a detailed report within six weeks, including the action taken against the "delinquent police officials".
The commission has also issued a notice to the Uttar Pradesh chief secretary to inform the panel, within six weeks, about the number of ambulance functional in the area and the status of the relief given to the aggrieved families.
"The NHRC has taken suo motu cognisance of media reports that in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, policemen on duty, with a police control room (PCR) van, refused to carry two grievously injured boys to the hospital, saying, the vehicle would get smudged," it said in a statement.
"Crucial time was lost in carrying them in a tempo to a hospital where both were declared dead," the NHRC said.
The delay led to the death of Arpit Khurana and his friend Sunny, both aged 17.
The duo were on their way home on Friday night, when they lost control over their motor-bike and it crashed into a pole in the Beri Bagh area.
Locals rushed to the scene and pulled the teens out of a drain they had fallen into after the crash.
The teenagers were seriously wounded, SP (City), Saharanpur, Prabal Pratap Singh had said, adding that the residents then informed the police on the 'Dial 100' service.
They said the policemen who reached the site refused to take the wounded in their vehicle to a hospital.
The rights panel observed that the police personnel did not do their duty and due to their inaction, right to life of the boys were "grossly violated".
The trio have been booked under IPC section 304 A (culpable homicide not amounting to murder). A departmental inquiry has also been initiated against the accused policemen, the SP said.
The three policemen - Indrapal Singh, Pankaj Kumar and Manoj Kumar - were suspended over the alleged incident, the SP added.
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