Chandigarh:
The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday dismissed the anticipatory bail argument of Punjab Police Inspector Ronnie Singh Salh in the case of the attack of Army Colonel Pushpinder Singh Bath in Patiala more than two months ago.
Colonel Pushpinder Singh Bath accused 12 Punjab police personnel of attacking a parking dispute in Patiala outside a spot in March.
Bath then alleged that the attackers attacked him without provoking four Inspector-Rank officers and their armed subordinates, snatched his ID card and mobile phone, and threatened them with “fake encounters”-in public scenes and under CCTV camera coverage. Colonel faced a broken arm, while his son cut his head in the incident.
Justice Anoop Chitkara said in his order, “This is not a way, rude, skill and a cruel way in which a police force should behave with his people, anywhere and especially, in a democratic country like us.”
He said that this frightening, “intestinal incident” reflects complete misuse of police power by these officers.
“… Even though it is fictionally believed that the victims had wrongly parked their car on the roadside, the job of a law enforcement officer is to issue a challan (ticket) to the motor vehicle that has violated any such law.
“This is not the job of any trained law promoter, which is efficient in the efficient use of the cap, which is in the efficient use of the hat, which fiercely beating a common man on a drop of hat and disrespects citizens, taking forward his right to disregard his rights and disrupt the law and disrupt the law.”
It seems that this was an unfortunate case of gross misuse of emergency powers under the Police Act, the order reads.
The judge said in his order that the main duty of the police is not to create fear in the minds of the public using unfair force, but to secure the observation of law and order and secure that goal, to follow a condition and respect for legal framework.
“It is general knowledge that most people, especially poor, Dalits, and illiterate, have become deeply air -conditioned to fear the police, reducing their fear in the hearts of the heart. It is as if seen in the current case, which is displayed by a thin minority of officials, which inspires such fears and terror, which inspires such stories.”
In contrast, the purpose of the police force is to take care of your people, without any fear or favor, and without any prejudice, with sensitivity, affection, sympathy and kindness on one side; He said that while being firm, honest and surprising on the other, when it is indispensable to control hooliganism using proper force, he said.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court had directed the Chandigarh Police to investigate the case in April and issued instructions to complete the investigation within four months. Colonel Bath demanded an inquiry to the CBI or any other independent agency.
A week after the alleged incident, the Punjab Police registered a fresh FIR based on Colonel Bath’s statement.
Justice Chitkara saw in the order on Friday that the case of the complainant is that despite informing police officers of his identity as a colonel in the Indian Army and showing their identity cards, police officers did not stop with their thrashing, which further reveals any sympathy and high hydrity, cruelty, ego and deficiency of the police team.
“Such a police team’s conduct in beating a person brutally, even after knowing that he was a serving member of the armed forces, reflects the mentality of some police officers in this part of the country.
He said, “We should not forget so soon that this area is close to a hostile border, a history of extremism, and still struggling with narco terrorism across the border,” he saw.
The court also called for a thorough investigation by a senior level officer in the delay in registration of an FIR on the complaint of the victim by a senior level officer.
“… if police officers are such cruelty, high prosperity and disrespect to the members who are related to our respected defense services, then such a condemnable conduct will definitely be against the entire nation and even it can mean that such officers will be happy to serve any ruler, which suggests the entire purpose for which a democracy will give so much strength in the first place”.
There is no doubt that the petitioner and their companions were aggressive who started attacking the complainant and their son on the parking issue, just because the way he had demanded to transfer the car of the complainant party, it was later objected to, the order said.
“The bail plea and documents attached the Prima Facial to the petitioner’s participation and did not make a case for anticipatory bail. The impact of the crime would not be correct for anticipatory bail …”, The judge said, dismissed the anticipatory bail plea.
(Except for the headline, the story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is published by a syndicated feed.)
