Beating Up Dalit Rape Surviver At Police Station: Madhya Pradesh High Court Orders CBI Probe And Departmental Enquiry Against Police Officers

In a recent plea alleging the beating up of a rape surviver from Dalit Community in the police station, the Madhya Pradesh High Court directed to initiate departmental enquiry against police officers. A single-judge bench of Justice J.S. Ahluwalia also directed to transfer the involved police officers out of Gwalior and Morena range immediately. After hearing the submissions of both the parties, the Court decided that police officers have shown undue favour to the accused and have not done the investigation in a free and fair manner. The Court also directed for transfer of investigation of the crime to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI): "The Superintendent of Police, Gwalior is directed to handover the entire original documents including the file of Add. S.P. (East) to the CBI. The Director of CBI, is directed to assign this investigation to a Senior Officer", the Court held. The Court held that the Chief Superintendent of Police, Morar was prima facie guilty of negligence, manipulating the evidence and dereliction of duties; despite information from headquarter of Dial 100, he avoided supervision of the matter. The bench also observed that when the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Gwalior, summoned the CSP, he directed for sending the rape victim to the One-Stop Center, not her parental home, without any court order. Discrepancies between the videographer and recorded statement of the rape victim: The Court observed that the Sub Inspector recording the statement of the prosecutrix had made material changes in her statements recorded under Section 161 Cr.P.C. The videographer statement of the victims reveals that the SI intentionally did not mention the allegations made against the father of the accused. In the video, the SI is seen taking notes from the statement of the prosecutrix but not writing the same verbatim. "Thus, in view of the material difference between the statement of the prosecutrix which was video graphed and the statement which was written by Sub- Inspector Kirti Upadhyaya, it is clear that the police personnel were trying to divert the investigation right from day one." Alleged beating up of the prosecutrix in the police station: Based on the facts of the case, the Court concluded that prima facie the S.H.OPolice Station Morar, Ajay Singh Pawar (Shri Ajay Singh Pawar) and Sub-Inspector Kirti Upadhyaya were, directly and indirectly, involved in the merciless beating of the prosecutrix in the Police Station. As per the statement of the prosecutrix, the police officers beat her on two instances- one by lady police and on another where even the male police officers joined. The prosecutrix also alleges that the TI threatened her to depose before the Magistrate following their wishes or else on her return, "she would be beaten even if she dies". Illegal detention of complainant/prosecutrix: On the fact that the prosecutrix was kept in the police station for the entire night, the Court held that when a woman cannot be arrested after sunset and before sunrise, how can police keep a rape victim at the police station for the entire night without the orders of the competent Court. "It is clear that the detention of the prosecutrix in the police station for the whole intervening night of 31-1-2021 and 1-2- 2021 is a glaring example of violation of Fundamental Rights of the rape victim under Article 21 of the Constitution of India" the judgement reads. Investigation not done in a free and fair manner: The Court held that the police officers had not conducted the investigation in a free and fair manner, and their efforts were tainted and an outcome of its ill design. The prosecutrix, who is the domestic help at the accused's house, was made to wait for 3 hours in the night before the FIR could be lodged. The police officers did not visit the incident to collect incriminating material/evidence or seize the CCTV recording of the accused's house or apprehend the accused. "Thus, it is clear that for the reasons best known to the S.H.O., Police Station Morar, Ajay Singh Pawar, and Sub-Inspector Kirti Upadhyaya could not collect courage to go to the house of Ganga Singh Bhadoria where the incident took place. Spot map is an important part of investigation and it was deliberately ignored by the S.H.O., Police Station Morar, Ajay Singh Pawar and Sub-Inspector Kirti Upadhyaya" CCTV cameras installed in Police Station Morar reported being out of order. The Court made a specific note of the fact that the CCTV cameras installed in Police Station Morar are out of order from July 25, 2020, as per the enquiry report of the CSP. In furtherance of the observation, the Court reiterated the guidelines of the Supreme Court in the case of DK. Basu v. State of West Bengal (2015) concerning the installation of CCTV cameras in all police stations and prisons in a phased manner and appointment of non-official...

Beating Up Dalit Rape Surviver At Police Station: Madhya Pradesh High Court Orders CBI Probe And Departmental Enquiry Against Police Officers

Shrutika Pandey

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