Court asks J&K minister to be booked for slapping official

A Jammu and Kashmir court Monday directed police to register a case against Minister of State for Home Sajjad Ahmad Kichloo for allegedly slapping an official.

Kishtwar Chief Judicial Magistrate Ajay Kumar Gupta directed police to register a first information report (FIR) against Kichloo for allegedly slapping Riyaz Ahmad Choudhary, chief executive officer of the Kishtwar Development Authority, April 18.

The court told Kishtwar station house officer (SHO) to register the FIR "and proceed in accordance with the law".

Kichloo was not available for his comment.

The court reprimanded police for not registering the case and said: "The basic principle to be followed by the SHO was that as soon as he received the application (written complaint by Choudhary), he should have registered the FIR..."

The SHO earlier submitted a status report denying the occurrence of the incident, which was also rejected by the court.

Choudhary earlier sent a written complaint to the SHO to register an FIR against Kichloo.

He said he was a few minutes late for a meeting called by Kichloo ahead of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah's visit to Kishtwar April 18, and for this he was allegedly slapped by the minister.

"He (minister) first abused me and then gave me three slaps. When I resisted his men started beating me. It was on intervention of police that I got saved or else I would have been in serious condition," said the official.

Zulernain Sheikh, advocate for Choudhary, said the court directed the deputy inspector general and superintendent of police of Kishtwar "to monitor the investigations."