Court orders case against IPS officer for misuse of staff

A chief Judicial Magistrate in Gwalior has ordered the police to file a criminal complaint against an IPS officer who allegedly made constables work at his farmhouse in inhuman conditions....

A chief Judicial Magistrate in Gwalior has ordered the police to file a criminal complaint against an IPS officer who allegedly made constables work at his farmhouse in inhuman conditions.

One of the constables who had levelled the allegations against the 1985-batch officer allegedly committed suicide in June,months after being dismissed from service.

IG (fire services) K L Meena was posted in Gwalior as IG (SAF) in 2007 when a few constables had alleged that he confined them to his farmhouse in Alwar in Rajasthan,not allowing them leave,and occasionally intimidating them.

Judicial Magistrate (First Class) Ravindra Sharma has asked the police to file a case against the 54-year-old officer under Section 374 (unlawful compulsory labour),Section 344 (wrongful confinement),Section 506 (criminal intimidation) and Section 166 (public servant disobeying law with intent to cause injury) of the IPC.

The lower court order follows submission of an inquiry report by the then ADG Vijay Raman. The Gwalior District Sessions Judge had ordered a probe two years ago. The case shuttled between the lower court,the Sessions court and the Madhya Pradesh High Court.

Five of the 30 constables allegedly made to build a boundary wall at Meenas farmhouse had run away but only one of them,Keshav Singh Jatav,mustered courage to approach the court after the local police refused to entertain a complaint against the senior officer.

A couple of constables later supported Jatav and alleged that they were mistreated. On paper,they were still posted in Gwalior when the alleged mistreatment took place.

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After he was dismissed from service,Jatav worked as a daily wager but was frustrated because he could not support his family from the meagre income,his advocate B Shivhare said. Since then his wife Suman is pursuing the case.