Gujarat high court paves way for cop's promotion

AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat high court has paved the way for the promotion of DySP, Bharatsang Tank, to the post of the superintendent of police by quashing a penalty order issued by the department as it felt that an ineffective affidavit had allowed a gang-rape accused to get bail.
The case relates to a gang rape at a hotel near Shah-e-Alam Tollnaka in 2015, in which the victim turned hostile leading to the acquittal of all accused. Before this, the victim and her father had filed an affidavit and told the court that they had no objection if the accused were released on bail. One of the accused, Zafar, had got bail earlier. Tank's superiors issued him a chargesheet for lacuna in his affidavit, which he filed as an investigator in the case when he was assistant commissioner in J division of Ahmedabad police.
In 2018, Tank was issued a chargesheet and an inquiry took place into his investigation in the gang rape case and particularly the filing of a weak affidavit to oppose Zafar's bail. He was exonerated but the department issued a disagreement notice to him. In October 2021, the state home department imposed the penalty of stoppage of one increment for two years with future effect. Due to this minor penalty, his case for promotion to the post of SP was not considered by the departmental promotion committee.
While Tank's batchmates and some of his juniors got promoted to the post of SP, he approached the HC submitting that he filed the affidavit to oppose the accused's bail, when the accused was not facing grave charges. It was six months later that the victim had accused him for rape. Besides, he was exonerated in the inquiry and a minor penalty should not have been a hindrance to his promotion.