SHO allegedly advises warring couple to chant Gayatri mantra, denies claim

A man has claimed through his lawyer that a police station house officer (SHO) advised him and his wife, who were embroiled in a dispute, to chant the Gayatri mantra early every morning to solve their problems instead of lodging an FIR

A man has claimed through his lawyer that a police station house officer (SHO) advised him and his wife, who were embroiled in a dispute, to chant the Gayatri mantra early every morning to solve their problems instead of lodging an FIR.

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It was on the insistence of the station house officer of Nauchandi police station in Meerut that the couple wrote a compromise note with the assurance that they would indeed chant the Gayatri mantra, the 58-year-old man Hemant Goel claimed through his lawyer Ram Kumar Sharma.

For his part, station house officer Premchand Sharma denied the allegation against him and said, “I have nothing to do what they wrote in their compromise note.”

He also denied giving any written advice to chant the Gayatri mantra.

The police officer said, “I sent him (Goel) for medical examination and also registered his FIR against his wife Savita (Kaushik) and her son Hemant (Sharma) under Sections 504, 506 and 427 of the IPC.” The SHO said that Savita had also given a complaint of domestic violence and mental torture against Goel.

On the other hand, Goel’s lawyer Ram Kumar Sharma said they had no information about the case registered against Savita and her son (from another marriage) on the complaint of Goel.

He claimed that instead of registering the FIR against Goel’s wife and her son, SHO Premchand Sharma gave Goel written advice in Hindi, which reads, “Samasya ka sampurn samadhan, 03 din, Shantikunj Hardwar me pravas kare, Maa Gayatri mantra ki deeksha le aur 108 manka ki maala ka Brahmuhurt mein jaap kare” (Solution to the problem, three days: Visit Shantikunj in Haridwar, take spiritual initiation in the Gayatri mantra and repeat it 108 times while counting beads at the auspicious time of Brahmuhurt).”

Ram Kumar Sharma said he, along with Goel, met inspector general (IG), Meerut range, Praveen Kumar on Thursday and briefed him about the SHO’s conduct.

“The IG spoke to the SSP and directed him to look into the issue and ensure registration of the case on the victim’s complaint,” the lawyer said.

He claimed the SHO was lying to protect himself, otherwise why would have they gone to meet the IG to direct the SHO to register an FIR.

Giving details of the matter, the lawyer said Hemant Goel, a resident of Shastri Nagar, was unmarried at the time when a woman in his neighbourhood introduced him to Savita Kaushik in February. Savita claimed that she had obtained divorce from her first husband. Soon, Goel and Savita got married. He later came to know that Savita had a 19-year-old-son Hemant Sharma from a previous marriage, the lawyer said.

All was well for a few days but then Savita and her son started demanding money and often beat Goel when he refused to accept their demand, the lawyer alleged.

Meanwhile, he gave them over ₹22 lakh. On March 19, they again demanded ₹2 lakh and assaulted him when he refused to give it, the lawyer alleged.

Goel then visited the Nauchandi police station to lodge his complaint, but instead of registering the FIR, the SHO advised him to chant the Gayatri mantra to solve his problem, the lawyer said. He thrice visited the police station and eventually was advised to go for a compromise, which he signed along with Savita and her son, according to the lawyer.

The lawyer claimed the same SHO was recently in the news for sprinkling Ganga jal (Ganga water) on visitors at his police station and offering them “sandalwood powder” to apply on the forehead.

Despite attempts to reach him, the IG (Meerut range) was not available for comment.