Madhubani judge ‘assaulted’ by cops has a running feud with police

Addl judge Avinash Kumar had written to district and state police chief on August 6, apprehending harm from a local police officer

The judge in Bihar’s Madhubani district allegedly assaulted by policemen on November 18 had written to district and state police chief on August 6, apprehending harm from a local police officer, according to Bihar Judicial Service Association (BSJA) secretary Ajit Kumar Singh.

Patna high court (HT photo)

Police sources, however, said the complaint was found to be false during a probe ordered by the district administration.

“In his letter to the top police officers, additional district and session judge Avinash Kumar had claimed that Chandramani, the then station house officer (SHO) Jhanjharpur police station, had said at a public function that if given green signal by Madhubani superintendent of police (SP), he could barge into his chamber and beat him,” said Singh, himself an additional district judge at Kishanganj.

Police sources, however, said that following orders from the district judge, the administration had constituted a two-member committee of subdivisional officer and the deputy superintendent of police to probe the incident, but found the allegation false.

A departmental probe against Chandramani is still going on, sources said.

Madhubani SP Dr Satya Prakash and additional director general of police (headquarters) J S Gangwar refused to comment.

On November 18, ADJ Avinash Kumar, who is no stranger to controversies, filed a police complaint alleging that station house officer of Ghoghardiha police station, Gopal Krishna, and sub-inspector Abhimanyu Kumar Sharma entered his chamber, assaulted him and even pointed a pistol at him.

Both police officers, who have alleged they were assaulted in the court premises the same day, have been arrested.

Meanwhile, taking immediate suo motu cognisance, the Patna High Court set up a special bench to hear the matter the same day. The bench fixed the next hearing for November 29 and state’s chief secretary, police chief and Madhubani SP have been asked to appear before the court with a report.

Avinash Kumar, who has been in the headlines for his unusual orders, was stripped of his judicial powers by the Patna high court on September 24 this year.

In one of his orders, he had granted bail to a molestation accused on the condition that he would wash clothes of the entire village for free for a week.

While he was posted in Patna, he had served show-cause notices on the chief secretary and the state police chief for non-compliance of the order to deduct ₹2,500 from the DM and SP’s salaries in a lynching case and deposit the sum to the CM Relief Fund.