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Assault on Colonel: Why accused cops not arrested yet, HC asks Punjab
The bench added that initially, there was a delay in the registration of DDR and then FIR and now arrest. “You are only buying time”, the bench orally remarked.
The Punjab and Haryana high court on Friday questioned Punjab Police over the delay in arresting the policemen accused of assaulting Colonel Pushpinder Singh Bath on the intervening night of March 13-14 in Patiala.
While referring to the state’s affidavit where claims were made that the accused cops have been suspended, the bench of justice Sandeep Moudgil observed: “Despite clear allegations and the identification of policemen, why have they not been arrested so far, and what has the police done so far.”
The bench added that initially, there was a delay in the registration of DDR and then FIR and now arrest. “You are only buying time”, the bench orally remarked.
The court was hearing a plea filed by Colonel Bath, who has accused 12 Punjab Police personnel of assaulting him and his son Angad over a parking dispute, seeking to transfer the probe to CBI or another independent agency.
To the court’s previous order seeking an explanation over lapses and delay in the registration of FIR, in its submissions, the state had told the court that all accused police personnel have been placed under suspension and departmental proceedings for major punishment have been initiated against them.
“All of them have been transferred out of Patiala, and a high-level special investigation team has been set up to conduct the investigation in a “fair and expeditious manner”, the specially appointed lawyer by the Punjab government, senior advocate RS Rai told the court.
During the hearing, the Punjab government counsels also attributed heightened security due to the eviction of farmers from the protest sites, who were removed from the Shambhu border on March 19, as the delay in the registration of FIR.
However, the court did not yield and sought details of FIRs registered in Patiala district when police were on high alert between March 18 to 23. These details are being sought because the state had cited farmers’ protests as an excuse for the delay in FIR registration, the court added.
In the order dictated in the open court, the high court has also directed the state to explain why the policemen were at the parking area, where the assault took place; what their assigned duty was, and where they were coming from.
