Delhi Riots: Court Orders Rs 5,000 Salary Cut of Errant Police Officer for 'Casual' Approach

New Delhi: Irked over the Delhi Police seeking adjournment in a “very casual manner” in a riots case, a court here directed the police commissioner to conduct an inquiry and deduct Rs 5,000 from the salary of the responsible officer.  

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Arun Kumar Garg imposed the fine after the police failed to comply with a previous order in which he had directed the investigating officer (IO) to supply a copy of an e-challan to one of the accused and sought an adjournment to supply it.

The judge said, “Under the circumstances, request for an adjournment for compliance of order dated April 12, 2021, is hereby allowed subject to cost of Rs 5,000 to be deposited by Delhi Police in the Prime Minister National Relief Fund.”

In his September 25 order, the judge added, “This court is not oblivious of the fact that burden of this cost shall fall on public exchequer and hence I deem it appropriate to direct Commissioner of Police Delhi to conduct an inquiry and to order deduction of aforesaid cost from the salary of the responsible officer.”

The judge noted that the special public prosecutors (SPPs) and IOs do not appear in the cases on the dates fixed and when they appear after prodding, it is without inspection of the file and then seeks adjournment in a “very casual manner”. 

He said that the conduct of the police, as well as the prosecutor, has already been brought to the notice of senior police officers including, the Commissioner of Police, however, they have "failed to ensure that such incidents do not take place anymore."

The court was dealing with a case wherein the IO was directed to supply a copy of the e-challan to the accused named Komal Mishra in compliance with an order dated April 12, 2021.

However, the IO informed the court that the copy of the e-challan has not yet been supplied to the accused as he was not aware of the court order.