Rajasthan SHO shunted for naming judge in FIR

The FIR was filed on July 25 after a fight broke out between two neighbours in Damodar Colony. Anil Daga and advocate Shankar Dayal Goswami picked up an argument in the middle of the night. The police intervened and both men were taken to the Maha Mandir Police Station where they filed reports against each other.

In his FIR, Daga mentioned that a ‘‘drunk’’ Goswami had repeatedly threatened him. ‘‘He was threatening us and saying that he had just spent the evening with the judge. He said that since the houses were unauthorised, he would have them broken down,’’ he wrote.

‘‘We have been staying in this rented accommodation for a year now and have often had arguments with him,’’ said Chand Ratan Daga, the complainant’s father. ‘‘That night also he was drunk and kept mentioning the judge’s name. We would have let things be, had he not filed a complaint against us and levied charges which could have resulted in non-bailable warrants.’’ The Dagas claim they filed the FIR on behalf of the residents of the colony.

SHO Kansingh Bhatti finished the paperwork that night and went home, only to be told two weeks later that he was being removed as SHO of Maha Mandir police station and being sent to the lines. ‘‘It was for administrative reasons,’’ says a curt U.R. Sahoo, Jodhpur’s (City) Superintendent of Police. ‘‘The police is a party in this case so I cannot say anything further. As far as norms for registering FIRs are concerned, well everybody knows the rule.’’

Bhatti, whose records show he is ‘‘an honest and good policeman’’, didn’t question the move, but the rest of the city reacted sharply. The High Court Advocates Association in Jodhpur went on strike over the weekend, demanding that Bhatti be suspended and a CBI inquiry initiated. The association’s general secretary, Chandrashekhar Kotwani, said Bhatti ‘‘in connivance with Daga’’ mentioned the judge’s name in the FIR. Mentioning a judge’s name in a FIR is ‘‘unconstitutional’’, he added.

‘‘The SHO influenced us in no way,’’ said Daga. He was very patient with both parties. It is amazing why no one is questioning Goswami’s behavior. After all he is the one who dragged the judge into this whole mess,’’ he said.