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Haryana: Vij suspends 4 Panchkula cops for negligence
Takes action after conducting a surprise inspection of the police station in Sector 5, Panchkula; but senior officials raise questions
Haryana home minister Anil Vij on Friday placed four Panchkula cops, including the station house officer, Sector 5, on suspension for “negligence in duty” after conducting a surprise inspection of the police station.
While the home minister cited pendency of complaints, presence of an ununiformed night munshi, non-maintenance of the attendance and departure (ravangi) register, non-deployment of security guard at the entrance and failure to act on the counterfeit currency reported by a bank to justify his action against the cops, senior police officials said the facts were to the contrary.
For instance, the minister said he has sought information on action taken with regards to about 143 FIRs that have not been investigated or processed.
The fact is that the Panchkula deputy commissioner of police (DCP) on July 27 had asked the SHO to reconcile 125 pending complaints (not FIRs). The SHO in his response said that only 88 complaints were pending for reconciliation, which is an ongoing process.
“Often people present complaints through various channels such as the CM window, home minister’s office and DGPs office. Thus, there are multiple copies of the same complaint that need reconciliation,’’ said an official privy to the matter.
On the minister’s contention that many applications have been recovered from the SHO’s office on which no action has been taken, the officials said that disposal of a complaint can only be done after conducting an inquiry. “It’s a time-consuming process which required calling both the parties. Panchkula has high number of domestic and money related disputes. The question is how many were pending inordinately. This was never taken into account by the minister,’’ said an official.
Earlier, after reaching the police station around 1 pm, Vij checked every room and drawer. According to the orders issued by the Panchkula deputy commissioner of police, SHO Lalit Kumar, munshi Dimpal Kumar, night munshi Ajay Kumar and probationer sub-inspector Mandeep Singh have been placed under suspension.
“I wanted to suspend everyone present in the police station. But several documents are yet to come to me. Work is not being done in adherence to law in this police station specifically,’” the minister said, adding that he has asked for an action taken report on FIRs registered in the last one month.
Minister versus cops
Vij: No action on two fake currency notes reported by bank
Cops: As per 2019 RBI guidelines, police investigation by filing an FIR is only done when five or more counterfeit currency notes are detected in a single transaction For four or less counterfeit notes, only a consolidated report along with the suspected notes is sent by bank to police at month end
Vij: Night munshi not wearing uniform
Cops: Night munshi is supposed to be on duty at night. He was in station to assist to his colleagues at a time when he should be sleeping
Vij: Probationer SI Mandeep Singh’s attendance not marked in register
Cops: The SI was in courts for presenting a challan. His attendance is marked in court
Vij: No security guard at police station entrance
Cops: Due to agitation by Asha workers and Huda employees in city, police had to scramble to arrange force. Sanctioned strength of constables (705) in the district is lowest in the state
Vij: No record of applications maintained
Cops: Every complaint is entered in 5-P register and is accounted for. Courts can summon the records anytime.
