December 24, 2020 1:42:55 pm
The High Court of Karnataka.
The Karnataka High Court, in a recent order, ordered a police officer in Kalaburagi district to clear a public road in front of the police station for a week for failing to register a First Information Report (FIR) as part of her duty, when a woman approached the station stating that her son had been kidnapped.
“The whole development of the case, after the disappearance of the petitioner’s son, reveals to us a very disturbing facet of the operation of the police stations in this part of the State”, a division bank made up of judges S Sunil Dutt Yadav and P Krishna Bhat in the Kalaburagi High Court said in an order.
He added: “The problem, mainly, is that the police do not comply with the procedure prescribed in the Code of Criminal Procedure, which places a high value on guaranteeing people’s freedom.”
Meanwhile, the Station House Officer (SHO) of the Station Bazaar Police Station, against whom the action was taken, gave a written commitment to the court. “I am willing to comply with the order issued by the court. I present my unconditional apologies for not registering the FIR and assure the court that I will not repeat this in the future, ”the commitment reads.
Accepting the compromise, the Court ordered the Kalaburagi Police Superintendent, Kalaburagi, to conduct an orientation course or workshop for all police officers within the district on “Zero FIR” according to the guidelines issued by the Supreme Court.
The order was issued while the HC listened to a petition filed by Tarabai, a 55-year-old resident of Minajagi Tanda in Kalaburagi. In the petition he had stated that the police officer did not comply with the procedure at the Station Bazar police station when he approached him with a complaint.
The Court noted that the SHO had not entered a journal note or registered an FIR as required by law, although it was aware that a recognizable crime of kidnapping had been committed.
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