Bihar Police accuses public prosecutor of suspicious conduct in minor rape case

An FIR was lodged against Prasad on the direction of Bihar’s Crime Investigation Bureau (CID) on May 27 this year after the accused officer’s wife approached the state police chief disclosing her husband’s alleged involvement in the four year old rape incident.

A senior Bihar police officer has written to the state government seeking a probe into conduct of Gaya’s special public prosecutor for Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) who allegedly let off a senior suspended police officer accused of raping a minor Dalit girl twice off the hook during court hearings.

BiharPolice have booked an IPS officer for allegedly raping a minor girl 4 years ago when he was DSP in Gaya district. (ANI Photo)

Suspended deputy senior superintendent of police (DSP) Kamlakant Prasad, accused of raping a 14-year-old Dalit girl in 2017 at his official quarter in Gaya, was let off twice as the court first didn’t issue an arrest warrant against him and later protected him from coercive action due to the public prosecutor’s alleged failure to state relevant facts during argument, CID (weaker section) additional director general (ADG) Anil Kishore Yadav claimed in a letter written to the additional chief secretary of home department Chaitanya Prasad on June 28.

An FIR was lodged against Prasad with Women’s police station in Gaya on the direction of Bihar’s Crime Investigation Bureau (CID) on May 27 this year after the accused officer’s wife approached the state police chief disclosing her husband’s alleged involvement in the four year old rape incident, the letter said.

Yadav alleged that following the suspension, the investigation officer (IO) of the case sought an arrest warrant against the accused DSP on June 16, which was turned down by the special court (in-charge) of additional district judge Neeraj Kumar, as the special public prosecutor Syed Qaiser Sharfuddin didn’t appear before the court to support the investigation officer.

Later on, June 21, the court ordered that no coercive action should be taken against the accused police officer while hearing his anticipatory bail petition. The ADG wrote that this time, the special PP didn’t tell the court that the victim was a Dalit as atrocities on scheduled castes mandate stringent action under the law. Yadav also wrote that the special PP also didn’t mention that in support of the allegations in the FIR, the rape survivor and her brother had already recorded their statements under Section 164 of the CrPC, which is considered a strong piece of evidence in a court of law and could have impacted the court’s decision in the matter.

ADG Yadav said he suspected a conspiracy behind the “unsupportive attitude” of the special PP which he alleged to have resulted in failure to obtain even an arrest warrant against the accused DSP. The ADG urged for deputation of a dedicated additional advocate general to argue the prosecution’s case against the bail application of the accused, to be heard in the special Pocso court on July 5.

The letter also sought security for accused officer’s wife Anand Tanuja, who filed the rape complaint against her husband and is said to be a key witness in the case. The ADG said Tanuja had sought protection for herself and her children from a senior retired IPS officer, who she said, had sheltered her husband while he was posted as an OSD in Central Selection Board Of Constables.

A former member of national SC/ST commission Yogendra Paswan said that this was the first time that a police officer had raised the issues of alleged unprofessional conduct against a public prosecutor.