High court seeks DGP’s report on allegations of implicating man in drug case
Punjab-Haryana High Court orders DGP to investigate police misconduct in drug case, citing abuse of power and wrongful detention of a citizen.
The Punjab and Haryana high court has directed the Punjab director general of police (DGP) to look into a case, wherein cops from Kapurthala have been accused of ‘framing’ a person in a drugs case.
Observing that this is a case where exemplary cost should be imposed upon the police officials, the bench of justice Kirti Singh asked the DGP to file an affidavit detailing the action he proposes to take against the delinquent police officers who registered the criminal case. The court has also summoned the Kapurthala senior superintendent of police (SSP) for September 20.
In the case in hand, the petitioner Lovepreet Singh had claimed that on June 24 while he was returning from his fields he couldn’t give way to a police vehicle due to a narrow road. As soon as the road widened, the police vehicle overtook him.
“Policemen in the vehicle took me to Mothawal police chowki and thereafter, to Sultanpur Lodhi police station and later a criminal case of drugs seizure was registered against me,” Lovepreet Singh said in his plea.
He was kept in illegal custody and was not allowed to contact anyone as his mobile phone was also seized by the cops. “My parents constantly tried contacting me, however, with the mobile phone in possession of the police officials the same was not answered. The FIR was registered two days after I was picked up,” the petitioner added in his plea.
The petitioner claimed before the court that police concocted the drug seizure story and the same stands corroborated by the incoming calls which were never answered and the location of the mobile phone.
The court was also informed that the lower court dismissed his bail plea as by then forensic report of the alleged drugs planted on him had not come.
As per the state’s counsel, the FSL report had stated that the alleged recovery of 525 capsules was that of paracetamol and not of narcotic drugs.
The court allowed the bail plea, observing that in recent times, there have been incidents of police highhandedness, where innocent citizens are being harassed and falsely implicated under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
“These actions often stem from abuse of power and lack of accountability, turning routine checks of minor encounters into traumatic experiences of law-abiding individuals. Innocent people find themselves entangled in legal battles, facing baseless charges that tarnish their reputation and disrupt their lives. The misuse of the NDPS Act in such a manner undermines public trust in law enforcement and diverts the attention from genuine efforts to combat drug-related crimes, highlighting the routine need for reforms and stricter oversight to protect the rights of citizens,” the bench observed seeking a report from the DGP.