On Monday, the Patna High Court delivered sharp criticism of the actions of police officers in the State for errors in the First Information Report (FIR) filed in connection with the abuse of a lawyer by a police officer.
Suo moto Public Interest Litigation (PIL) on the abuse of several attorneys by the police was being heard by the bench of Justices Rajan Gupta and Mohit Kumar Shah.
The main accused police official’s name was included in an earlier counter affidavit submitted by the State itself, but it was not included in the FIR, which astonished the bench.
The court indicated a desire to summon the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), but it gave the respondents one final chance to outline their precise position. The Investigating Officer (IO) was requested to show up in person on the following date in this regard.
The Amicus Curiae informed the court that the FIR was not filed against the named accused, Lal Bahadur Yadav, but rather was against “ek purush (one man)” during the hearing.
The division bench reacted negatively, saying, “It depicts absolute insensitivity on the part of the police, and a brazen act on the part of the police. This is very bad. You are the state and not obeying the law”. The respondents were also informed that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) would be contacted to take over the case if the state agencies failed to act appropriately.
On a prior occasion, the court had requested a statement from the police on errors made in the FIR’s filing for the alleged attack of an advocate named Saket Gupta by a police officer named Lal Bahadur Yadav. The bench had already made it clear that, should it determine that the police were not inclined to take any action against the official, it would consider turning the investigation over to a separate organisation.
The case will be heard again on September 21, 2022.
[Read Order]
