New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday (March 25) criticised Haryana Police over its handling of the investigation into the alleged rape of a four-year-old girl in Gurugram and constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to take over the probe, according to a report on LiveLaw. The court observed that the state police diluted the gravity of the offence by registering a case under Section 10 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012.The court said the police ought to have applied Section 6 against the accused, considering the nature of prima facie evidence, which included aggravated penetrative sexual assault against the child, CNBC reports.A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Vipul Pancholi said on Wednesday that the police made efforts that appeared to favour the accused. The bench directed that the Gurugram Commissioner of Police and the investigating officer to be removed from the investigation of this case. The court said:The entire police force, from the Commissioner to the Sub Inspector, made all attempts to prove that the child had no proof or that the parents did not make any sense. The record leaves no room for doubt that an offence under section 6 POCSO was apparently committed. The police however registered the FIR and downgraded the offence under section 10 due to undisclosed reasons.The SIT to investigate the matter will be led by senior IPS officer Nazneen Bhasin, the court said. It also issued notices to the concerned police officials asking why disciplinary action should not be taken against them over the handling of this case.The matter was heard on a writ petition filed by the child’s parents seeking an independent investigation, citing dissatisfaction with the police probe.The court had earlier on Monday (March 23) taken up the matter after Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi had mentioned it on Friday (March 20), highlighting it as a case where the Supreme Court could send a strong message.The court noted during the hearing that the police investigation caused further trauma to the child, and called its investigation methods insensitive and unlawful. News reports of that hearing had pointed out that the magistrate recorded the statement of the child in the presence of the alleged offender, in a closed room for over 30 minutes.“The magistrate is asking the girl of 3 years, ‘Isko oath toh samajh nahin aayega, tum sach bolo, sach bolo (She won’t understand oath. Just tell the truth), and the three accused are standing in the same room…The child is already in trauma,” Rohatgi said, according to an Indian Express report published March 23.The court had, while expressing concern over this, directed officials to present to it the records of the investigation and of how the child’s statement had been recorded.The bench questioned the role of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) in Gurguram, doubting the qualifications of its members and directing them to submit explanations as well. The Principal Secretary of Haryana was also told to file an affidavit detailing how the CWC members came to be appointed. Justice Bagchi said at the Wednesday hearing:If this is the quality of understanding sensitivity in case of a four-year old child, what do you expect of the rule of law? You say it’s not a case of rape but assault? We are indicating what’s distressing. Highest police officials taking that stance to bring down the offence to S.10! It’s for courts to decide, not CWC.“Who appointed these CWC members? Acted as if the victim was a table or chair! They should have gone to her house,” CJI Kant said, as per a LiveLaw report on the Monday hearing.Additionally, the court issued a notice to a doctor at Max Hospital, a private hospital, regarding changes allegedly made to the medical report of the child victim.