Lucknow:
The Uttar Pradesh administration is red-faced and apologetic after a senior cop was allegedly caught on camera telling the father of a missing girl that had she been his daughter, he "would have killed her and committed suicide."
In a video clip allegedly recorded by local journalists, the IPS officer, Satish Kumar Mathur, is purportedly seen suggesting dishonour killing to the father, who was there to ask for help to track down his minor daughter, missing for a week. The policeman is seen on camera saying, "This is a matter of great shame, if anybody's sister or daughter flees then he should, drown himself and commit suicide."
The father had reportedly told the police that he believed his daughter had eloped.
Mr Mathur is the Deputy Inspector General of Saharanpur and his bosses admit his alleged callous comments are not just unacceptable, they are illegal. "Whatever comment was made is wrong, it is also legally wrong and I will not defend it," said UP Additional Director General of Police, Jagmohan Yadav.
The National Commission for Women has said it will petition UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, who won a huge electoral mandate in the state this year on the promise of good law and order. The commission's chairperson Mamta Sharma has said she will write to Mr Yadav and demand that he be suspended. "The way I see it the DIG has turned away from his responsibilities. It is his responsibility that if a person, whether male or female comes to him for help, he is entitled to help them. The response that he has given is very cowardly and this is not right. I demand the State Government suspend him and then investigate why he gave such a response."
The girl's parents say they met Mr Mathur to seek some reassurance from the top cop that the police would find their missing daughter; they had earlier registered a case at the women's police station in Prabudha Nagar, they said.
Mr Mathur then is also seen saying that he can find the girl in 24 hours, but if he had a sister like that he "would shoot her or kill himself."
The Congress' Manish Tiwari has suggested that officials such as Mr Mathur be retrained. "It seems that some people are still living in 19th century. They should be sent for retraining," the Congress spokesperson said.