"Why Is Police Taking Sides?": Bombay HC Orders Action Against Cop For Refusing FIR By Muslim Family Allegedly Attacked Over Religious Identity

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday (August 5) expressed shock over the conduct of a Station House Officer (SHO) of Pune Police, who refused to lodge an FIR on the complaint of a Muslim family on the ground that an FIR was already lodged against the family in a road rage case by a Hindu family.The court thus ordered Pune's Commissioner of Police to take 'stringent' action against the concerned officer.A division bench of Justices Ravindra Ghuge and Gautam Ankhad noted that the road rage started because of honking outside the house of the Hindu family - Keswani family, and its men 'brutally' assaulted Shoaib Umarali Sayyed and his brother, which was even videographed by passersby. The judges noted from the petition that the Keswani family's men even banged Sayyed's brother to the wall and even tried to hit him with a stone. However, the attack by stone was evaded by the petitioner, who contended that they were beaten up because of their 'religion.'The bench even took note of the medical papers on record through Pune's Sassoon Hospital, which indicated several injuries on the person of the petitioner and his brother, which were a result of a brutal assault. However, when the petitioner filed a formal complaint with the Khadak Police Station in Pune City, the SHO Shashikant Chavan, refused to lodge an FIR at their behest on the ground that already the Keswani family has lodged an FIR against the Sayyed brothers under charges of attempt to murder. "We have perused the complaint filed on July 25, which prima facie shows as to how the petitioner was allegedly abused on the basis of his religion and was physically assaulted. Obscene bad words were uttered attributing to his sister and mother. The only issue was of a blowing of a horn and which resulted in road rage, wherein, a person by name Harsh, emerged from the vehicle and abused the petitioner and initially assaulted the petitioner and then others like Girish Keswani and two to three unknown persons attacked the petitioners. The petitioner has detailed the physical assault on him. Karan picked up a stone and tried to hit him on his head, which he could evade by his hand because of which his hand and wrist got injured," the bench recorded in the order on Tuesday. The bench noted that despite a clear order on a previous hearing, the SHO filed an affidavit before the judges, stating that he will not be registering an FIR at the behest of the petitioners. "Why is the officer taking sides? He is not supposed to take sides. If he does not know the law in cases where the second or the opposite party comes to lodge FIR then his seniors will have to take some action against him. If he claims to be handicap in lodging FIR despite material, he must face consequences," Justice Ghuge orally remarked. A cursory glance at the complaint and the photos on record, the bench said, would indicate that the petitioner and his brother have been badly assaulted and they both were thrown to the ground and clothes were torn and they were heavily assaulted."A well built person seen in the pictures assaulting the two brothers have lodged an FIR against the two. What is surprising is that the said FIR indicates a charge of attempt to murder against the petitioners, who are brutally assaulted. Our judicial conscience is shocked by the conduct of the SHO of the Khadak Police. Station. Thus, this is a fit case to direct the Commissioner of Police, Pune City to take stringent action against the said SHO for denying to register the FIR," the bench ordered. The bench ordered the top cop to first issue a show cause notice to the SHO and seek an explanation from him about his conduct and if the same is found to be unsatisfactory, the Commissioner is ordered to initiate disciplinary action against the said officer. "We direct registration of an FIR in light of the complaint of the petitioner within 48 hours without waiting for this order to be uploaded on the official website of the High Court," the bench orderedA compliance report of the same is ordered to be furnished on August 6.Appearance:Advocate Debojyoti Talukdar appeared for the Petitioner. Additional Public Prosecutor Avinash Naik represented the State. Case Title: Shoaib Umarali Sayyed vs State of Maharashtra (Writ Petition 3839 of 2025) Click Here To Read/Download Order

"Why Is Police Taking Sides?": Bombay HC Orders Action Against Cop For Refusing FIR By Muslim Family Allegedly Attacked Over Religious Identity

Narsi Benwal

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