Stripped of gallantry award, DIG to present his case
According to officer Choudhary, NHRC’s queries were answered and a magisterial inquiry found encounter to be fair
Days after DIG (Ratlam) Dharmendra Choudhary was stripped of a gallantry award for allegedly orchestrating a fake encounter, the IPS officer said he would present his side of the story before the authorities concerned.
Choudhary was posted at Jhabua as its additional superintendent of police in 2002 when he gunned down Lobhan Singh, a criminal wanted by the law enforcement agencies of three states — Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan — in connection with 11 offences. Choudhary received a gallantry medal from then President APJ Abdul Kalam on the state home department’s recommendation.
However, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) charged Choudhary with killing Singh in a fake encounter after which the IPC officer’s award was taken away.
Talking to Hindustan Times over phone, Choudhary said that he does not remember the entire NHRC report. “What I remember is that they had raised certain queries about the encounter, which often happens in such cases, and all of them were answered. Even a magisterial inquiry found the encounter to be fair,” he said.
Choudhary said that the gallantry award was given on the recommendation of the state government, and since it has been taken back, he should be given a chance to represent my side. “I will make my representation before senior officers and a proper forum,” he said.
The villagers of Mehandi Khera, where Singh lived, said that the criminal should have been arrested instead of being gunned down.
“His (Singh’s) death shattered his family and I am sure he could have been arrested and not gunned down,” Singh’s relative Dalla Baria said.
Singh’s immediate family left the village soon after his death and their home now lay abandoned. His wife, Kasubai rarely comes to the village and their son, who was one year old at that time, now lives in an ashram.