The committee made this observation in its report on incidents of police subjecting women to virginity tests in Gopalpur village of Chhattarpur district following the discovery of the body of a newborn baby.

Women and girls ``should not be treated as property'', the committee said, pointing out that the police had subjected females of all ages, including a handicapped girl, to the tests.

In its report, the committee mentioned that it had found DSP O P Mittal, sub-inspector Mukesh Tiwari and assistant sub-inspector Lakhanlal Pateriya as prima facie guilty. While Tiwari and Pateriya were suspended, no action was taken against Mittal.

The committee pointed out that when its members visited Gopalpur, some anti-social elements tried to prevent peoplefrom giving evidence.People were threatened in the presence of the sub-divisional magistrate N K Jain who failed to take any action, it said.

The committee report said the Chhattarpur DSP, C V Muniraju, did not appear to have administrative control over those working under him -- the DSP had said he had no knowledge of these tests -- and should be therefore replaced by someone who would not allow a repetition of this incident.