Nithari incident figures at Union Cabinet meet

New Delhi, Jan 4: A day after ordering a high-level inquiry into the role of the police and administration during the two-year-long brutal assault and murder of scores of children in Nithari in Uttar Pradesh, the Centre today clarified that the objective of such an exercise was to have an impartial inquiry.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi told mediapersons after a meeting of the Union Cabinet, which discussed the serial killings in the village in Noida on the Delhi-UP border, that the inquiry ordered by the Ministry of Women and Child Development would not strain the Centre-state relations.

Though Nithari incident was not part of the day's agenda of the meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, it figured briefly with the Home Minister Shivraj Patil expressing concern over it.

"The Home Minister was very much concerned about it," Mr Dasmunsi said.

Terming the incident "Unfortunate" and a "blot on civilised society," he questioned how it was possible for the state givernment to conduct an impartial inquiry by the state government when people who colluded in the offence were investigators.

The Minister said the action against some police officers by the state government in connection with the Nithari incident was an open admission about the lapse or involvement of the police in the heinous crime.

Mr Dasmunsi took a dig at Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav for not yet visiting the village to console the families of the victims, and said he should not delay the visit any longer.

'This is not a minor incident." In this context, he said the political parties should rise above all considerations and work towards ensuring that such incidents did not happen in future.

UNI