NE NEWS SERVICE
SURAT, AUG 4
A court here in Gujarat on Wednesday ordered registration of an FIR against five policemen for allegedly thrashing a shopkeeper after forcibly taking him to a police station when he objected to them harassing a street vendor.
The court of Judicial Magistrate First Class RR Baria directed Assistant Commissioner of Police (A division) to lodge an FIR against the five personnel of the city’s Kapodra police station under sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) pertaining to unlawful assembly, rioting, causing grievous hurt, wrongful confinement, among others.
The ACP was also directed to complete the investigation within 60 days and inform the court about its progress.
Complainant Shelubhai Gohil approached the court claiming his son Nardipsinh Gohil was on the night of July 16 taken to a police station in Surat city by five policemen dressed in civvies and thrashed him with a baton, requiring him to undergo treatment for several days. The complainant stated that the police personnel became angry after his son, while returning home from his shop, asked them not to harass a street vendor.
When the complainant went to the police station after receiving a call from his son, the policemen threatened to frame Nardipsinh in a psychotropic drugs case if he disclosed the matter, the plea said.
Shelubhai stated that only a non-cognisable case was registered on July 24, days after he approached the police inspector, Surat police commissioner and DCP with the request to lodge an FIR against the policemen involved in the incident.
He said he even wrote to Gujarat chief minister and home minister about the incident. The complainant said before the NC was registered, some police officials continued to pressure him to reach a compromise. In its order, the court directed the ACP to merge the NC complaint in the FIR.
