SC/ST Commission orders FIR against Ludhiana cop for issuing contradictory reports about Dalit man

The Commission also found that the report issued by police in 2019 was fake and had been issued without any verification.

The Punjab State Scheduled Castes Commission has ordered senior superintendent of police (SSP, Ludhiana Rural) Vivek Sheel Soni to lodge an FIR against one inspector Amarjit Singh, now deputed in Jagraon, for issuing two contradictory reports pertaining to criminal record of a Dalit man.

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Tejinder Kaur, chairman of the Commission, has ordered the SSP to submit a report after lodging the FIR on the day of the hearing, which is September 7.

Gursewak Singh, 32, a Dalit man from Raikot, had applied for the post of numberdar after the death of the previous post-holder. Eleven other candidates had also applied and had appeared in a written test, too.

For verification, the sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) had sent a letter to Raikot police. Amarjit Singh, who was then a sub-inspector (SI) and station house officer (SHO) at Raikot City police station, in his report issued on August 17, 2019, had mentioned that Gursewak had a case of attempt to commit culpable homicide registered against him in 2017.

Four days after the first report, however, the police released another one stating that Gursewak bore a good moral character and had no criminal case pending against him. The SDM allegedly took into consideration the first report and “recommended” some other candidate numberdar post.

On October 8, 2019, Gursewak complained to the SC/ST Commission, which issued a notice to the SSP. In reply, the SSP mentioned that he had filed a condemnation report against the SHO, but the department had promoted the SI to the post of inspector.

The Commission also found that the report issued by the SHO on August 17, 2019, on Gursewak’s criminal record was fake and had been issued without any verification.

Gursewak further alleged that some politicians “wanted to appoint their man as numberdar which is why they made the police issue a false report [against him]”. Gursewak even claimed to have scored 9 out of 10 marks in the written test. Charan Das, the recommended candidate, had scored just one mark, he alleged.