The Allahabad High Court has ordered an inquiry into allegations of misconduct against a Station House Officer (SHO) in Sultanpur regarding allegations pertaining to the SHO’s mistreatment of women and also beating an old man inside the police station.
The Division Bench of Justice Sangeeta Chandra Justice Narendra Kumar Johari passed this order while hearing a petition filed by Kusum Singh and Others.
The petition has been filed praying the following relief:-
(i) Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus commanding the opposite party nos 2 and 3 to conduct an inquiry against the Pradeep Kumar Yadav, S.H.O Kurebhar, District- Sultanpur who misbehaved with the female petitioners against her dignity of the female petitioners and the same is in camera of the petitioners who prepared on spot and also badly beaten the old father of the petitioner no 1 and same is also in camera proceeding and on the basis of complaint/application dated 24.6.2023 contained to the writ petition moved by the father of the petitioner no 1 through the registered post in the interest of justice.
The Court observed that the petitioners are accused in the F.I.R dated 21.06.2023 being Case under Sections 353, 504, 506 and 34 of the I.P.C, P.S Kurebhar, Distt Sultanpur. They had challenged the said F.I.R by filing a petition, which was disposed of by the Court by giving protection to the petitioner in the light of the directions given by the Supreme Court in the case of Arnesh Kumar v State of Bihar, (2014) 8 SCC 273.
The allegations impugned in the writ petition is that when they went to the police station for their statements recorded, S.H.O Kurebhar, DistrictSultanpur misbehaved with the petitioners and the entire video of incident was recorded by the petitioner no 2.
The Court directed the A.G.A to seek instruction in the matter from the opposite party no 3- Superintendent of Police, Sultanpur, who shall conduct an inquiry regarding allegation of the misbehaviour and also examine the CCTV footage, if any, of the P.S Kurebhar, Distt Sultanpur before giving some instruction to the AGA.
The Court has fixed the next hearing of the petition on 26th September, 2023.