Shimla, January 12
The Himachal Pradesh High Court has quashed the FIR lodged against former DGP Sanjay Kundu and IPS officer Anjum Ara, and 8 other police officers under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Atrocities Prevention Act. The court said that no criminal case is made out in this case, and continuing the FIR would be an abuse of the process of law. While giving this verdict on Saturday, a bench of Justice Virendra Singh said that the departmental action taken against suspended constable Dharm Sukh Negi was completely part of the departmental process. In the case, an FIR was lodged by Constable Negi’s wife, Mona Negi, accusing police officers of harassment. The FIR included the names of former DGP Sanjay Kundu, retired IPS officer Himanshu Mishra, Arvind Sharda, SP Shalini Agnihotri, Anjum Ara Khan, Bhagat Singh Thakur, Pankaj Sharma, Meenakshi, and DSP Baldev Dutt. Mona Negi had alleged that these officers did injustice to her husband by wrongly dismissing him from the job.
Anjum Ara, Pankaj Sharma, and Baldev Dutt had filed a petition in the High Court challenging the FIR. After the hearing, the court held that the case registered is factless and baseless. The court also clarified that such cases are an abuse of the process of law. After this decision of the High Court, these officers involved in the police department have gotten a big relief.
This was the case.
According to the case, the couple hails from the tribal Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh. Meena Negi, wife of dismissed constable Dharmsukh Negi, said in the complaint that she had also informed the Chief Minister, Chief Secretary, and Secretary (Home) and Shimla SP (SP) in November 2023 about the atrocities and inhuman treatment meted out to her husband.
The complainant alleged that her husband was harassed and dismissed on July 9, 2020, on the basis of fabricated charges, even though he had eight years of service left and was also ordered to recover Rs 1,43,423 for delay in vacating the government accommodation. Based on the complaint, an FIR was registered against the former Himachal Pradesh Director General of Police and nine other police officers under Section 3(1)(b) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.