Court gives state 3 days to declare policy on tainted cops

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Thursday admonished the Punjab government for merely holding meetings and not coming out with a policy to deal with tainted police officers.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Thursday admonished the Punjab government for merely holding meetings and not coming out with a policy to deal with tainted police officers. A division bench comprising Chief Justice Mukul Mudgal and Justice Ranjan Gogoi took the Punjab government to task for failing to come up with a policy,as repeatedly directed by various Benches of the High Court. The Bench has given three days time to the Punjab government to place on record its policy with regard to tainted police officers in the state.

The directions were passed after Rupinder Singh Khosla,Additional Advocate General (AAG),Punjab apprised the Court that a meeting attended by top government functionaries has been held and a decision for framing a policy has been taken. The Chief Justice made it clear that if the state fails to produce the policy,the Court will issue a mandamus which will be binding. The development took place during the resumed hearing of a bunch of petitions including suo motu notice taken by a single Bench and a contempt petition filed by Advocate H C Arora demanding action against the state for posting convicted police officers on public/key postings in violation of court orders.

Meanwhile,amicus curiae in the case,senior advocate Sanjay Bansal,asserted that as per the law laid down,the state can suspend a tainted officer. Bansal pointed towards Sumedh Singh Saini,Director Vigilance,Punjab who stands charge-sheeted in a case of abduction with the intention to murder three residents of Ludhiana. Stating that the Punjab government is shielding Saini,the amicus curiae added that despite numerous communications by the Home Ministry,the Punjab government has not taken any action against Saini.

The Bench reprimanded Ashish Kumar,relative of the deceased,who is pursuing a legal battle against Saini,for making an irresponsible statement and made it clear that the PIL is not aimed at an individual officer. However,the Bench clarified that provisions under the Punjab Police Act shall apply to senior police officers with greater force.

Justice Ranjan Gogoi also asked the state about the action it intends to take against police officers convicted on account of moral turpitude.

Sanjay Bansal submitted that while the state has framed a policy for not posting tainted station house officers (SHOs) at public postings,there is no policy for officers above the rank of SHOs. Punjab cannot have double standards Bansal averred. Showing conviction in the submission of Bansal,the Bench observed that the Punjab government should have a policy which should apply to all officers irrespective of their ranks.

Khosla vehemently rebutted allegations of Ashish in which he alleged that his brother-in-law was thrown in a furnace at the instance of Sumedh Singh Saini. Khosla said that Ashish has a personal animus against Saini and is leveling false allegations against the officer.

Story continues below this ad

Meanwhile,the law officer of Haryana Government informed the Court that his State has removed all public servants who were convicted of any criminal offence. Hearing of the case will resume on December 9.

Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram