Himachal HC quashes FIR against ex-DGP, 9 others in Dalit constable sacking case

Shimla, Jan 11 (PTI) In a relief to a former Himachal Pradesh DGP and nine other police officers, the high court has quashed an FIR that accused them of harassing a Dalit constable and dismissing him from service on basis of "concocted charges".

Allowing the petitions filed by police officers Anjum Ara, Diwakar Sharma and others, a single bench of Justice Virender Singh Friday observed that nothing was found by the investigating agency in respect of the allegations levelled in the complaint.

The FIR was registered against them under section 31(1) (b) of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act by Meena Negi, wife of the dismissed constable Dharam Sukh Negi hailing from tribal Kinnaur district.

In her complaint, Meena had alleged that her husband was tortured and dismissed on the basis of "concocted charges" on July 9, 2020 with eight years of service left and was ordered recovery of over Rs 1.4 lakh for staying in government accommodation. A copy of the order was made available on Saturday.

The court said the complainant could not connect the petitioners with the crime.

"Even otherwise, if the proceedings are permitted to be continued on the basis of the vague allegations, may it be the cancellation proceedings, the same would be nothing but abuse of the process of the law," the court said.

The order further said that bare perusal of the complaint does not make out a case on the grounds that Meena and her husband belong to Scheduled Tribes and as such, their "bald assertion, regarding this fact, is too short to take any action against the petitioners".

Although, after investigating the matter, the police decided to file the cancellation report, yet in the peculiar facts and circumstances of the present case, the petitioners cannot be left in the lurch to wait for the decision of the authorities on the cancellation report, the bench said.

The petitioners are entitled to have a sigh of relief as even during the pendency of the cancellation report they have to indirectly suffer the sting of registration of the FIR against them, the court ruled. PTI BPL ZMN