The court has also directed the SSP Nawanshahr and Ludhiana Range IG or DIG to respond to the application filed by Kumar. (File)
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the Punjab DGP Suresh Arora to probe the allegations against SSP Nawanshahr who, along with about 100 police officials, is said to have raided houses in Aur and Garopur villages of the district in January this year and is alleged to have illegally removed the cameras installed in the houses of the residents. “Director General of Police, Punjab, to ensure that if any such instructions (obviously, unofficially), have been issued by the SSP, Nawanshahr, that no cameras be installed in those or other villages, such allegations would be looked into by the DGP himself,” the order passed by Justice Amol Rattan Singh reads.
The single-bench of the High Court has also directed the DGP to immediately ensure that “FIRs are registered against the police officials/officers for indulging in such illegal activity, including illegal entry into houses, and for theft of cameras etc,” in case they have removed the cameras installed by the Panchayat or the residents. The order has been passed on an application filed by a Nawanshahr resident Ashok Kumar, accused in an NDPS case, alleging that he had installed the cameras at his residence because the police officials of Mukandpur and other police stations would raid his house regularly and he was apprehensive of being falsely implicated in different cases.
Nayyar has told the court he has been regularly facing harassment from the police because an SHO had been dismissed and convicted in criminal proceedings in the past on the basis of his complaint. He has further told the court that he was being picked up time and again after that.
Alleging that special instructions were given by the SSP that no one would install the cameras in the village and on January 23 the police broke into his house and took away all the cameras and Digital Video Recorders (DVRs) from his and other houses in the villages, Nayyar has told the court that whole village would support his assertions regarding the raid. He has also told the court that his cousin Dev Raj has also been “implicated” in a case registered at Mukandpur Police Station.
The court has also directed the SSP Nawanshahr and Ludhiana Range IG or DIG to respond to the application filed by Kumar.