Nagpur: Commissioner of police Amitesh Kumar has ordered an inquiry into the charges against Lakadganj police station officers for assaulting RTI activist advocate Ankita Shah and her husband Nilesh Makheja.
The top cop through additional CP Navinchandra Reddy submitted his say before the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) that held its first hearing on Shah’s complaint on Tuesday at Mumbai.
Kumar stated that an inquiry was going on through DCP-Zone-III on new facts brought to fore by Shah.
On March 25, Shah and her husband Makheja had gone to the police station to lodge a complaint against a security guard and a neighbour who were hurling stones at stray dogs. “Instead of taking action, the cops allegedly roughed us up on grounds of not wearing masks, making videos in the station and detained us despite norms prohibiting detention of women after 6pm. We became victim of police ‘gundagardi’,” Shah alleged.
“As per report submitted by Nagpur CP before SHRC, former CP Bhushan Kumar Upadhyay did not take any action that shows he was not at all serious about atrocities on a woman advocate and an activist. It was his duty to take a strict cognisance of the matter and direct registration of FIR immediately but he failed to do so,” Shah said.
Considering inquiry report of ACP on March 31, 2020, Kumar issued a warning letter on October 12 to senior PI of Lakadganj police station Narendra Hiwre. Shah expressed anguish over leniency on PSI Kawre and two constables as Kumar just issued show cause notices to them asking why a fine of Rs1000 and Rs500 each should not be levied on them.
“Show cause notice is not action. Also, the quantum of proposed punishment is very liberal, it is not exemplary,” Shah stated and demanded FIR against all concerned.
Next date of hearing before SHRC is November 4 and Shah is planning to file a reply on the report submitted by Nagpur CP.