Pilibhit, March 28 () Thirteen policemen, including a station house officer, a sub-inspector, and 10 constables have been booked in two separate matters in Uttar Pradesh’s Pilibhit district on the orders of court of Chief Judicial Magistrate and Special Judge, SC/ST Act.
The cops are accused of allegedly demanding extortion money from a lawyer in the first matter and for keeping a Dalit man under illegal detention and hurling casteist abuses at him in the second matter.
In both cases, the police have yet not complied with the judicial orders.
The first order is against sub-inspector, Dharmendra Singh, and constables of Madhotanda police station.
As per the victim, Shiv Sharma, 56, who is a lawyer and former president of the district central bar association, the police did not lodge his complaint within seven days from the date of the receipt of the court’s order.
The concerned order had been received by the police on March 15. Sharma has now decided to file a contempt application in the court against the defiance of the court order by police.
Meanwhile, the Superintendent of Police, Atul Sharma, said that the police would file an appeal in the higher court as the lawyer’s allegations were false.
It is one of the first instances in the district when police have decided to opt for an appeal challenging the lower court’s order over lodging of an FIR.
Prior to this, the lawyer in his complaint filed in the court alleged that he was abused, and the sub-inspector demanded extortion money in September last year. He filed a complaint with the SP but no action was taken.
Sharma, said that the police were defying the court orders as they were reluctant in lodging the FIR against their own staff members.
In the second matter, a 37-year-old Dalit marginal farmer Bhoop Ram Jatav has alleged that he and his wife were assaulted with firearms on November 11, last year by three criminals from his native village. The duo was the witness against the assailants in a criminal case, he said.
Jatav belongs to Bhura Sarainda village under the jurisdiction of Gajraula police station.
The police, following a court order dated December 22, 2023, lodged an FIR but did not apply the right IPC sections. When he approached the then SHO, Ashutosh Raghuvanshi, with a request to add the appropriate sections to the FIR, he was held up in police lock-up and abused badly.
The court of the special judge, SC/ST had ordered the police on March 23 to lodge an FIR and investigate the matter.
amita/sha
