CJI: Have reservations at how police officers are behaving in country
NEW DELHI: Flagging the alleged nexus between politicians and bureaucrats, especially police officers, the Supreme Court on Friday said it was once considering setting up standing committees headed by Chief Justices of high courts to examine complaints of atrocities committed particularly by police officers.
“I have a lot of reservations at the way as to how bureaucracy, particularly, how the police officers are behaving in this country,” Chief Justice of India (CJI) NV Ramana said.
“I was at one time thinking of creating standing committees to examine atrocities and complaints against bureaucrats particularly police officers headed by the Chief Justices of the High Courts. Now, I want to reserve that, I do not want to do it now,” the CJI said.
The CJI made the observations while heading a bench that was hearing three separate pleas of senior IPS officer Gurjinder Pal Singh, suspended Director of Chhattisgarh Police Academy of Chhattisgarh, against three FIRS lodged against him by the state government for offences of sedition, corruption, and extortion respectively.
The bench, which reserved the orders, indicated the out
come and said that it would grant protection to the suspended officer from any coercive action in two cases lodged for the offence of sedition and extortion respectively and requested the Chhattisgarh High Court to decide his pleas expeditiously within eight weeks.
In the third case lodged under the Prevention of Corruption Act for allegedly amassing disproportionate assets, the bench, also comprising Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli, said that the police officer would be at liberty to avail appropriate legal remedy as he had only sought its transfer to the CBI and the stay of the ongoing probe being conducted by the state police. At the outset, senior advocate F S Nariman, appearing for Singh in the sedition case, said that vexatious allegations have been made against the police officer for refusing to conspire to frame former chief minister and BJP leader in the state.