In a hard hitting judgment,the court of Sub Divisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM),Phul,G S Dhillon came down heavily on Punjab police for registering a case against a whistleblower - who had complained against alleged illegal acts of land mafia - and made him an accused. Varinder Kumar,the accuser was made an accused by Bathinda police,after he made three complaints - one in November 2009 and two in December 2009 - alleging illegal acts committed by the land mafia, and pointed out that a person appeared on behalf of eight different buyers for the photograph to get the sale deeds registered. The police registered a case under section 182 of Indian Penal Code (false information,with intent to cause public servant to use his lawful power to the injury of another person) against Kumar. The case was registered even as police failed to to register an FIR against the accused named by Kumar in his complaints,something that the court noted was foreign to the scheme of the CrPC. Citing orders of the Delhi High Court,the Phul court said that the police had a statutory duty to register a case and to take up the investigation. It is only after the investigation in the case is found false then the complainant can be proceeded against under Section 182. The court also cited two similar cases of Punjab and Haryana High Court. In one case the high court had held that even if an FIR is registered and police finds the allegations false and submits cancellation report to magistrate,even then SHO cannot initiate proceedings under Section 182 against the petitioner till the court expresses its opinion about the falsity of the complaint. It is hard to believe that police officers of the rank of SSP in Punjab are not aware of the above referred legal position. It appears that the police is arbitrarily using its authority contrary to the provisions of the law and settled precedent, SDJM Dhillon said,adding that it is a travesty of justice that the police rather than taking any action on the basis of complaint filed by the present accused preferred to register a case against the complainant himself. The system has wronged the accused, Dhillon said,discharging the case awarding him to a compensation of Rs 10,000 in each of the three cases. The compensation would be paid by the Punjab government for failing to provide an innocent whistleblower the due protection of law. The order added that the state government would recover the compensation amount from the police officers who wronged the accused by failing to follow the statutory procedure. The police officials who subverted the system also deserve to be penalised, the court said,giving the liberty to the whistleblower to move court for criminal action against the accused in all the three complaints he had made to the police. Kumars counsel Navneet Kumar Garg said they would move on Tuesday (November 22).
