Court directs FIR against police constable, others for throwing man off a roof
NEW DELHI: Amid calls for action against widespread police brutality, a court here has ordered the Delhi Police to lodge an FIR against its constable and others for allegedly throwing an autorickshaw driver off the roof of a building and take action against those officials who tried to sabotage the probe. The incident took place on June 14 in North Delhi’s Burari area and the victim, Rajesh, a TSR driver, continues to be in a critical condition in the trauma centre of a hospital near ISBT.
In a status report filed before the court, the police submitted that the allegations made by the complainant against constable Praveen, along with co-accused Prateek and Chotu, could not be substantiated during the inquiry conducted and therefore, no FIR was lodged.
According to the complaint, on June 14, constable Praveen, along with Prateek and Chotu, beat up Rajesh and threw him off the roof of the building. The dispute started on the allegation that his minor daughter, fouryear-old, had stolen a diamond ring from the house of Prateek, which the girl had denied. Accused Praveen is deployed at Burari police station as a constable and is a good friend of accused Prateek. Co-accused Chotu is Prateek’s brother. After filing the complaint, Rajesh’s wife was told by police to compromise with the accused persons and that the accused were willing to pay her if she took back the complaint. Metropolitan Magistrate Pranav Joshi, however, expressed utmost displeasure in the manner in which the complaint was dealt with by the police officials at PS Burari, and said an FIR ought to have been registered as soon as the complaint was made by the complainant.
Further, it appears prima facie from the inquiry conducted and the course of action adopted in doing so that attempts were being made at police station (PS) Burari to sabotage an independent probe into a cognizable offence where allegations are also made against a police official serving at PS Burari.
It added that the allegations levelled against the proposed accused persons are very serious in nature and demanded an independent probe. Accordingly, SHO PS Burari is directed to register an FIR against the accused persons immediately and without any delay, the judge said. He further directed that strict action should be taken against the erring officials. DCP concerned is requested to do the needful and transfer the probe to the DIU (District Administrative Unit).
The court further ordered that steps be taken to get the statement of the victim recorded by the Executive Magistrate concerned, and the call detail records of all the accused persons as well the purported eyewitnesses as mentioned in the status report be immediately preserved and collected. The court also directed to collect the CCTV footage of all the nearby cameras installed immediately.