Gauhati HC likens SP’s bulldozer act with Bollywood flick

GUWAHATI:  The Gauhati High Court has likened the action of the superintendent of police of Nagaon in Assam in bulldozing the houses of some accused to a potential Bollywood potboiler. “In a lighter vein, I have not seen a Hindi movie of that category. Send the story of the SP. Director Rohit Shetty can make a film on this,” Chief Justice RM Chhaya said during a hearing on Thursday.

On May 21 this year, some people protesting against the death of a fish trader, Safikul Islam, in police custody, had set fire to the Batadrava police station in Nagaon and attacked the personnel. The next day, the police demolished the houses of the five accused. The HC had registered a case suo moto based on a letter received from two lawyers.

“Nobody is safe. Under the guise of investigation, you pull down somebody’s house. Even Lord Macaulay must not have thought of it. It is a dent on criminal law,” Chhaya said. “…as per the report of the SP, a thorough search, made by the police team, required the use of an excavator to dig the house. But it requires permission. Tomorrow, you will say something is here. So will you dig out my courtroom?,” the judge said.

“What is recovered is one 9mm pistol. We don’t know if it was planted or recovered. You show me from any criminal jurisprudence that for investigating a crime, the police without any order can uproot a person by applying a bulldozer,” Chhaya told the government counsel.

“Even the DIG, the IG or the DG have to pass through the gamut of law. Only because they head the police department, they cannot break anybody’s house,” Chhaya said, ordering that the incident be brought to the notice of higher home department officers.