Three cops held guilty for dereliction of duty, HC told

The police officers were found guilty of delaying registration of FIR on a cognisable complaint.

This was informed to a division bench of Justices A S Oka and S S Jadhav which was hearing a petition filed by Farooq Shaikh alleging that the police had refused to lodge FIR on his complaint of assault.

In an affidavit submitted by Additional Commissioner of Police (central) Praveen Salunkhe, he apologised to the court for inaction on the part of the police and said as per a departmental inquiry, senior police inspector Lata Dhonde and two police inspectors of Shahu Nagar police station have been held responsible for dereliction of duty.

"Show case notices have been issued to the three police officers asking them to explain their stand. If their replies are not satisfactory then they are likely to not get appraisals for two years," the affidavit said.

In his petition, Shaikh alleged that on January 19 when he was on his way to office, the accused, Sanjay Bhalerao, threatened him and demanded an extortion of Rs one lakh.

When he refused to pay, Bhalerao and his associates allegedly assaulted him.

Shaikh, the petition claims, rushed to the police station to lodge a complaint but no cognisance was taken.

Instead, the senior police inspector sought guidance from the assistant commissioner of police on whether FIR needs to be lodged.

The ACP forwarded the complaint to the deputy commissioner who in turn sent to the additional commissioner. Only after the additional commissioner gave the go ahead, FIR was lodged in February. Aggrieved by the delay, Shaikh approached the court.

On the last hearing, the court, while directing for an inquiry to be initiated against the three officers, observed, "In this case the officers acted like postmen by transferring the complaint from one authority to another."

Taking note of the affidavit and the fact that investigations are on in the case, the court disposed of the petition.