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NHRC refuses to meddle in Shivani Bhatnagar case

Madhu Sharma and her two daughters, Pragati and Komal, returned disappointed from the National Human Rights Commission after it declined to interfere with the investigations in the Shivani Bhatnagar murder case.

Madhu is the wife of Indian Police Service officer R K Sharma -- the prime accused in the case.

NHRC Chairman Justice J S Verma had directed Director-General (Investigations) Y N Srivastav to meet the family. However, Madhu was angry that her meeting with Srivastav was cut short to merely seven-and-a-half minutes.

"The commission told us that since my husband R K Sharma is an absconder therefore nothing can be done at this stage. The commission, however, asked me to file a separate application for protection to my family," she said.

Prior to the meeting, She had said that the NHRC was the only organisation that had responded to her fax messages, and hence the whole family was going to meet Srivastav.

She alleged that the Delhi police was harassing her to such an extent that even the telephones of her advocate, Dinesh Mathur, were being tapped. "A friend of my daughter who was helping us was threatened by the Delhi police. What kind of country is this where I am being denied access to my advocate also," she asked.

She said but for the cameramen standing outside her house in Panchkula, near Chandigarh, the Delhi police would have abducted her and her daughters long ago.

She said it was unfortunate that Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had not given her an appointment. "When I have a complaint against a minister in his Cabinet then I would like to meet the prime minister and talk to him and not to a peon in PMO [prime minister's office]," she said.

She accused the Delhi police of trying to extract confessions against her husband from Sri Bhagwan and Pradeep Kumar -- two suspects who have been arrested.

She said even if the Delhi high court rejects the bail application of R K Sharma, which will come up for hearing on Tuesday, he is not going to surrender.

"We will go right up to the highest court of the land and I am sure we will get justice there," she added.

Shivani Bhatnagar murder case: Complete coverage

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