The Punjab and Haryana high court has sought an affidavit from Ludhiana commissioner of police Swapan Sharma over the appointment of inspector Jatinder Singh as station house officer (SHO) of the cyber crime police station, despite his alleged ineligibility to investigate cases under the Information Technology (IT) Act.
The direction came during the hearing of a writ petition filed by advocate Gagandeep Singh, a resident of Sarabha Nagar in Ludhiana, who alleged that inspector was not a regular inspector and, therefore, not qualified to probe cybercrime cases.
The petitioner submitted that the officer himself admitted in an official note dated December 16, 2023, that he was a local-rank officer and not authorised to investigate cases under the IT Act. Despite this, he allegedly investigated a case registered on December 14 and gave a clean chit to the accused.
The petition also cited a 2016 directive by the director general of police (DGP), prohibiting personnel from armed police and Indian Reserve Battalions (IRB) from holding SHO posts in district police.
Inspector Singh, the petitioner said, belongs to the 4th IRB in Jalandhar and was, therefore, ineligible for the posting.
{{/usCountry}}Inspector Singh, the petitioner said, belongs to the 4th IRB in Jalandhar and was, therefore, ineligible for the posting.
{{/usCountry}}The high court has fixed the next hearing for September 26 and will examine the commissioner’s affidavit before proceeding.
When contacted, CP Swapan Sharma said inspector Jatinder Singh had been appointed by a predecessor and was later removed after the matter came to his notice.