Kriti Agrawal-
The Madhya Pradesh High Court recently ordered a departmental investigation into police officers after a rape survivor from the Dalit community was beaten up in a police station.
The Single Bench of Justice J.S. Ahluwalia further ordered that the accused police officers be transferred out of the Gwalior and Morena ranges immediately.
The Court found that police officers showed excessive favour to the accused and did not conduct the inquiry in a free and fair way after hearing both sides’ arguments.
The Bench further stated that, “The Gwalior Superintendent of Police has been directed to hand over all original documents to the CBI, including the file of Add. S.P. The Director of the CBI is directed to assign this investigation to a Senior Officer.”
The High Court found that Chief Superintendent of Police Morar was prima facie guilty of carelessness, evidence manipulation, and dereliction of duty since, despite information from Dial 100 headquarters, he avoided oversight of the case.
The Bench also noted that when the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Gwalior summoned the CSP, he instructed that the rape victim be sent to the One-Stop Center rather than her family home, despite the fact that no court order had been issued.
Further, it was found that the S.H.O Police Station Morar, Ajay Singh Pawar, and Sub-Inspector Kirti Upadhyaya were, directly and indirectly, involved in the cruel beating of the prosecutrix in the Police Station, based on the circumstances of the case.
According to the prosecutor’s statement, she was beaten by police officers on two occasions, one by female cops and the other by male policemen.
The prosecutrix also claims that the TI threatened her with being ‘beaten even if she died’ if she did not depose before the Magistrate in accordance with their intentions.