The Patna high court on Wednesday ordered to shift eight police officers of Munger district, including its superintendent of police M S Dhillon, within three days and asked the state government to pay a sum of ₹10 lakh to the father of an 18-year-old boy who was killed allegedly in police firing during the immersion of Durga idol on October 26 last year.
Arguing for Amarnath Poddar, father of the slain boy Anurag Kumar, Supreme Court lawyer Alakh Alok Srivastava told the court of Justice Rajiv Ranjan Prasad that two months had passed but nothing had been done so far to give justice to the family.
The HC was hearing a criminal writ petition filed by Poddar seeking a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and a compensation of ₹5 crore.
Observing there was no allegation that the petitioner’s son was involved in any act of violence, the HC directed the state government to pay ₹10 lakh to the petitioner within a month. It further said the additional director general of CID shall decide on the constitution of an SIT of senior officers above the rank of DSP to interrogate the police personnel who are likely to be investigated.
“... in order to ensure free and fair investigation of the case, the state respondents shall ensure that all the eight members of the SIT, including Munger SP, be shifted to some other place for the present within three days. The court, however, makes it clear that the order to shift them elsewhere be not taken as any indictment of all those officers by this court and no adverse inference shall be drawn against them for this reason alone,” reads the order.
{{/usCountry}}“... in order to ensure free and fair investigation of the case, the state respondents shall ensure that all the eight members of the SIT, including Munger SP, be shifted to some other place for the present within three days. The court, however, makes it clear that the order to shift them elsewhere be not taken as any indictment of all those officers by this court and no adverse inference shall be drawn against them for this reason alone,” reads the order.
{{/usCountry}}The court said the CID shall submit its first report in a sealed cover before it within a period of four weeks
Advocate Srivastava said the HC had earlier refused to grant an urgent hearing in this case, after which the victim’s father filed a petition in the Supreme Court, which asked the HC on January 25 to decide the case within two months.
Poddar said there was some hope of getting justice for his deceased son.
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