PRAYAGRAJ, April 29 -- The Allahabad high court has dismissed a petition filed by the suspended station house officer (SHO) of Hathras, Dinesh Kumar Verma, seeking to quash criminal proceedings, including the summoning order issued by the CBI court, Ghaziabad, in connection with the 2020 Hathras gang rape and murder case of a 19-year-old Dalit woman. The petitioner SHO was booked in this case over allegations of dereliction of official duty.

Dismissing the petition filed by Verma, Justice Raj Beer Singh criticised the officer's conduct as it considered both procedural violations and a glaring lack of sensitivity in handling the case involving a 19-year-old Dalit woman, a gang rape survivor, who later succumbed to her injuries.

The accus...