The Hon’ble High Court of Punjab & Haryana has issued notice for 03.12.2015 in the matter of petition for the transfer of investigation of 3 FIR’s to the CBI which were registered in connection with the kidnapping & murder of 4 years old girl child of colony no 4, Chandigarh and the subsequent agitations by the residents of the Colony No 4.
With this notice the hopes and expectations for justice of the aggrieved father of the deceased girl and the residents of the Colony No.4 have again got revived.. The copy of petition is also being posted below.
Thanks
(Satinder Singh)
Councillor
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR THE STATES OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH
C.W.P. _________ of 2015
MEMO OF PARTIES
- Satinder Singh, Advocate, practicing at District Courts Chandigarh R/o House No 89, Sector 28-A, Chandigarh.
- Ram Sanjivan S/o Brij Lal R/o House No 53, Block-F, Colony No 4, Industrial Area, Chandigarh.
…. Petitioners
Versus
- The State of Union Territory of Chandigarh through Home Secretary, Mini Secretariat, Sector 9, Chandigarh.
- Sh. A.S. Cheema, Deputy Inspector General of Union Territory, Chandigarh, Mini Secretariat, Sector 9, Chandigarh
- Sh Sukhchain Singh Gill, Senior Superintendent of Police, Union Territory, Chandigarh, Mini Secretariat, Sector 9, Chandigarh
- Sh. Parminder Singh (now SP Chandigarh) Mini Secretariat, Sector 9, Chandigarh.
- Station House Office, Police Station, Industrial Area, Chandigarh
- Narinder Patyal, SHO, Police Station Sector 11, Chandigarh.
- Sub-Divisional Magistrate, East Industrial Area, Chandigarh.
- Central Bureau of Investigation, Sector 30, Chandigarh
… Respondents
CHANDIGARH (JASDEV SINGH MEHNDIRATTA)
ADVOCATE
21/09/2015 P/1266/2003
COUNSEL FOR THE PETITIONERS.
Civil Writ Petition under Article 226 of Constitution of India for issuance of writ in the nature of mandamus (i) for directing respondent No.1 to hand over investigation in FIR Nos. 100, 101 & 102 of 11.04.2015 (Annexure P-1, P-3 & P-4) to respondent No.8 or any other independent agency to ensure independent, fair and impartial investigation;
(ii) for directing respondent No.1 to get investigation conducted by respondent No.8 or any other independent agency into the atrocities committed by police officials on demonstrators who were carrying out a peaceful protest against kidnapping, rape and murder of a 4 years old child and also into the illegal detention and torture of Sandeep Kumar @ Sandy for 3-4 days by Chandigarh police;
AND
(iii) for issuance of any other writ, order or direction as deemed fit, just and proper in the facts and circumstances of the present petition.
Respectfully Showeth:-
- That the Petitioner No. 1 is 45 years old and an Advocate by profession and practicing at District Courts Chandigarh. The Petitioner No. 1 is also an elected Municipal Councillor from Ward No 18, U.T. Chandigarh. He is a social and political activist and participates in various social welfare activities on a regular basis. He has been regularly bringing to the notice of the concerned authorities various matters concerning human and social rights of citizens. He has donated blood more than fifty times and organises blood donation camps on a regular basis. He is instrumental in making positive changes in the lives of people particularly those belonging to lower strata of the society.
Petitioner No. 2 is doing private job in the house-keeping section of Elante Mall, Chandigarh and is resident of slum area of Chandigarh known as Colony No. 4. He is also unfortunate father of Sarita, a 4 years old child, who was kidnapped, raped and murdered on 10.04.2015.
- That on 10.04.2015, daughter of petitioner no 2 namely Sarita, aged 4 years approximately was found missing from colony no 4, Chandigarh and was later found dead after rape in the morning of 11.04.2015. On the discovery of this heinous crime, local residents protested against the law enforcement agencies for their inaction and dereliction of duties by the officials of Police station, Industrial Area, Chandigarh. It is pertinent to mention here that after the child namely Sarita was kidnapped and the local colony residents protested, 4 FIRs were registered at Police Station, Industrial Area, Chandigarh. The details of the same are given as under:
S No | FIR No | Dated | Complainant Name | Number of accused | Under Sections |
1 | 100 | 11-Apr-15 | Ram Sanjivan | Unknown | 365 IPC (Later on Section 363,302,376,201 IPC added) |
2 | 101 | 11-Apr-15 | SI Gurcharan Singh | 8 named persons i.e. Gurdev Yadav alias Guru, Satish Kaith, Manvinder Singh Yadav, Rajinder Yadav, Dr Vikram Yadav, Ranjeet Yadav alias Lambu, Harinath Yadav, Minister Yadav and others | 307,147,148,149,186,332, 353,427,341, IPC And |
3 | 102 | 11-Apr-15 | Constable Vikas Kumar | 4 named persons i.e. Ajit, Ramraj, Manupal, Sintu and others | 307,147,149,332,353,395,IPC And Section 3 & 4 of Prevention of |
4 | 136 | 6-May-15 | SI Sukhjinder Singh | 2 named persons Satinder Ojha and Shashi Shankar Tiwari | 216A, 120-B, IPC |
- That FIR No. 100 was registered on the complaint of petitioner no. 2 (father of girl Sarita) against unknown persons. In the said FIR only one minor boy namely Adav @ Sonu Kumar has been arrested by the police whereas the actual culprits have not been arrested.
The Second FIR 101 was registered on the complaint of Chandigarh police through Sub-Inspector Gurcharan Singh against several persons including Women, children and old persons who are residents of the colony.
The Third FIR no 102 was registered again on the complaint of Constable Vikas Kumar against several persons including Women, children and old persons who are local colony residents.
Further, fourth FIR was registered on the complaint of Sub-Inspector Sukhjinder Singh against one Satinder Kumar Ojha who is real brother of one Sandeep Kumar alias Sandy who was one of the protestors and who was illegally detained by the police and one local person Shiv Shankar Tiwari.
Petitioner No.1 has been actively highlighting the highhandedness of the police reflected in the above mentioned FIRs since 14.04.2015.
- That series of illegal and wrongful acts have been committed by Chandigarh police as well as administration commencing from 10.04.2015 which not only amount to offences under law but also puts several question marks on the efficiency, integrity and competence of Administration particularly Chandigarh police. Thus, these disturbing, troubling and alarming happenings necessitate an investigation by some independent agency like Central Bureau of Investigation as the investigation by Chandigarh Police in the matter of these FIRs is going on only in order to hide its illegalities, inefficiency and brutalities committed during the said incidents. For better appreciation of facts, complete series of facts are being narrated as under:-
- i) That on 10.04.2015, daughter of petitioner No.2, namely Sarita, aged 4 years approximately, was found missing from the colony No.4 and immediately information regarding the same was given to the police by her parents (petitioner No.2 and his wife) due to a serious apprehension that some wrong might have been committed with the child (Sarita).
- ii) That despite immediate information and request, no action was taken. Only after 1 hour police personnel made some verbal inquiries from the residents of the colony.
iii) That the residents of the colony requested the police to make a search in the forest area adjoining the colony because similar incidents had happened in the past as well in the said area. However, despite this, the police did not take any action and the concerned officials in the police Station Industrial Area, Chandigarh even refused to meet the residents in the police station.
- iv) That thereafter the residents of the colony, requested the police to provide search lights so that they could search the forest area but the residents of the colony were not provided with search lights. Somehow the residents of the colony themselves conducted search in the forest area and at about 6:30 am, on 11.04.2014, colony residents found dead body of the child in naked condition having severe injuries on her person.
- v) That when the family members of the victim went to the police station to request the police officials to expedite the search for the culprits then instead of taking action against the wrongdoers, the police officials snubbed and threatened the family members of the deceased-victim and failed to take timely action.
- vi) That on the arrival of the police at the spot, the residents protested against the acts and conduct of the local SHO as the girl child was raped and murdered due to the negligence and laxity on his part. Timely action immediately after the girl was found missing could have prevented the tragedy. Although the police registered FIR No. 100 on 11.04.2015 against unknown persons at the Police Station, Chandigarh but on reaching the spot the police officials of P.S. Industrial Area Chandigarh used unwanted and inhuman force against the protesters and crossed all limits of brutality and illegality. A Copy of the FIR dated 11.04.2015 is annexed as Annexure P-1.
vii) That the police acted in a violent, inhuman and brutal manner like anti social elements and started beating the protesters even tearing off their clothes rendering them naked in the public. Media persons present at the spot were not allowed to photograph or video graph the police brutalities. Rather they were forced out of the area around the spot where the offence had taken place. However, a few photographs of these brutal, vicious and ghastly acts and deeds of the police personnel were clicked on the spot. The photographs of the brutal acts and manhandling of protesters by the police officials are annexed herewith as Annexure P-2 (Colly).
viii) That even after giving beatings to the protestors, Chandigarh police registered a FIR No 101 against the protestors only, under sections 307, 147, 148, 149, 186, 332, 353, 427, 341 IPC and section 3 & 4 of Prevention of Damage of Public Property Act. A Copy of the FIR No 101 is annexed as Annexure P-3.
- ix) That thereafter, another peaceful protest was organized by the residents at Industrial Area, Phase-1, Light Point, against the violent, inhuman and brutal behaviour and acts of the police. The protesters in the agitation were residents of colony no. 4 and mainly belonged to the labour class and were weaponless. However, to suppress the protest against their inaction, the police formed a battalion of several hundreds of policemen headed by respondent no 2 and 4 i.e. DIG Sh. A.S. Cheema, ASP Sh. Parminder Singh (now SP Chandigarh) apart from other senior officers who started callous inhuman, and brutal lathi-charge on the protestors. The protesters were mercilessly & insensitively beaten with lathi blows. Even several rounds of gun fires in the air, tear gas shells and rubber/ plastic bullets were used by the police on the said protesters. It is strange that no peaceful or less coercive preventive efforts were made by the police even though senior officers were available at the spot to monitor and handle the situation. It needs to be stated that by not taking the peaceful and less coercive preventive measures to normalize the situation, they utterly failed to perform their professional duties as expected from senior functionaries who are specially trained to handle situations in which emotions of general public are surcharged.
- x) That it is further submitted that the role of respondents no 2 and 4 i.e. DIG Sh. AS Cheema, ASP Sh. Parminder Singh (now SP Chandigarh) needs to be scrutinized as this type of anarchic and brutal conduct of the police occurred in their presence and they failed to perform their duties of taking peaceful and less coercive preventive measures in a professional manner as was expected from them. Rather the senior officials were more interested in beating and thrashing the protestors out of vengeance because during the protest, vehicle of the respondent no 3 i.e. SSP Chandigarh got slightly damaged and respondent no 4 i.e. ASP Parminder Singh sustained minor injuries.
- xi) That after beating the protestors mercilessly, 3-4 protestors were arrested on the spot despite the presence of hundreds of policemen, apparently because the protestors were beaten so badly and in case of the arrest of all the injured protestors, their medical examination would have had to be done as per law. Thus, to avoid this legal requirement of medical examination, which would have exposed the truth and the extent of their brutality, the protestors were made to run from the spot which otherwise was not possible as hundreds of policemen and senior police officers were present.
xii) That the Executive Duty Magistrate/ SDM i.e. respondent no. 7 was also present there and as such all the acts had been done in his presence. However, no role was performed by the respondent no. 7 to manage and to mitigate the adverse situation.
xiii) That the protestors/victims belong to oppressed and marginalized sections of society are residents of colony No.4, Chandigarh. They are not only financially weak but are also not aware about their rights and legal remedies. Owing to this weakness of the victims, the senior police officials dared to behave in such a callous, brutal and lawless manner. The senior officials are concealing the real facts and are apparently going to twist the story to suit their version. Hence, in order to create their defence and to save themselves police officials registered another FIR No 102 dated 11.04.2015 under section 147, 149, 332, 353, 307, 395 IPC at police station Industrial Area. A Copy of the FIR No 102 is attached here with as Annexure P-4. In the matter of this FIR No.102, the police wanted to arrest one Sandeep Kumar Ojha alias Sandy who was alleged to have damaged the vehicle of respondent no. 3 during the above said protest.
xiv) That at the instance of respondent no. 3 & 4, respondent no. 5 started arresting some innocent persons from amongst the residents of the colony no 4, Chandigarh. During these fake arrests Sandeep Kumar Ojha alias Sandy was sought to be arrested by police officials and in order to arrest him they illegally detained his brother-in-law (Jija) namely Ram Parvesh Upadhyay without making arrest entry in their official record on 12.04.2015. Thereafter, the family members of Sandeep Kumar were asked to produce Sandeep Kumar before police, if they wanted the release of Ram Parvesh.
- xv) That as per the version revealed to the petitioner No. 1 by the family of Sandeep Kumar Ojha, when after waiting for more than one and a half day when Ram Parvesh Upadhyay was neither released by the police nor produced before the Illaqa Magistrate, then under compulsion, brother of Sandeep surrendered on 13.04.2015 in the evening through respondent no. 6 Narender Patyal, SHO, Police Station Sector-11 Chandigarh who was known to Sandeep Kumar Ojha. Satinder Kumar Ohja, brother of Sandeep Kumar, his mother and some friends met Sandeep Kumar at police post Dhanas, Chandigarh the same evening. Satinder Ohja recorded the conversations at that time and voices of SHO Narender Patyal and other persons who were present at the time of surrender are very clear. The C.D of Audio Recording of the conversation is available with the petitioners and they seek permission of this Hon’ble Court to produce it later on.
xvi) That thereafter Sandeep Kumar alias Sandy was shifted to Crime Branch, Sector-11, Chandigarh and respondent no. 3 Sh. Sukhchain Singh Gill visited the crime branch and met Sandeep Kumar. He asked the police officials as to whether he was the same person who hit his car and police officers replied in affirmative. Then he asked the police officers to “greet” “Sandeep Kumar” with “Sewa Paani”. Sandeep Kumar was beaten in his presence. The police officials were so cruel that “Chashni” (Sweetened fluid) was put on Sandeep’s body so as to attract ants and mosquitoes and other third degree methods were applied to Sandeep Kumar @ Sandy.
xvii) That after the arrest of Sandeep Kumar on 13.04.2015, he was kept in police custody but neither any arrest entry was made by the police in the official records nor was he produced before the Illaqa Magistrate till 17.04.2015. However, on 18.04.2015, Sandeep Kumar was reported by the newspapers to have absconded from the police custody. When the reporters asked the version of the mother of Sandeep Kumar about his absconding, she raised serious apprehensions on the police story which was reported in the newspapers. The Clippings of the said newspapers are annexed as Annexures P-5 (Colly).
xviii) That the family of Sandeep Kumar i.e. his brother Satinder Kumar and mother Kalawati approached the petitioner no.1 & shared their woes. On the request for help and as the petitioner No. 1 is duty bound to help the poor and oppressed classes being a social activist as also their elected representative, he decided to help them by organizing a press conference on 03.05.2015 about the alleged absconding & disappearance of Mr. Sandeep Kumar and accordingly the petitioner also participated in the said press conference. The Newspaper items of the press conference dated 03.05.2015 are annexed as Annexure P-6 (Colly).
xix) That the person who was reported to have absconded on 17.04.2015 was immediately traced by the police after the press conference on 03.05.2015 about which the news was published on 04.05.2015 and Sandeep Kumar was shown arrested again on 05.05.2015. This immediate arrest made by the police after press-conference casts a serious doubt on the veracity of the version of absconding and re-arrest of Sandeep Kumar projected by the police. Rather this fact evidently points towards the fact that Sandeep Kumar was under the surveillance and control of the police all the time. More facts revealed later even indicated that Sandeep @ Sandy was compelled by the police to flee after brutal torture meted out to him so as to give time for his injuries to heal. He was under so much pressure that he was even reluctant to engage an advocate who was arranged by his brother in the court.
- xx) That after the re-arrest of Sandeep Kumar on 05.05.2015, Industrial Area Police further arrested brother of Sandeep Kumar i.e. Satinder Kumar Ojha and one Shashi Shankar Tiwari after registering FIR no 136 dated 06.05.2015 under section 216 A, 120-B IPC, PS Industrial Area Chandigarh. The offences in this FIR no 136 were bailable in nature but no bail was allowed to Satinder Kumar Ojha and only after the intervention and persistent protest by the petitioner no.1, Satinder Kumar was admitted to bail by the police after more than six hours of illegal detention.
xxi) That mother of the Sandeep Kumar @ Sandy namely Kalawati has filed a petition no Cri. Msc. No. M-14392 of 2015 before Hon’ble Punjab & Haryana High court after the missing of her son Sandeep Kumar @ Sandy which is pending adjudication before this Hon’ble court for 03.11.2015. A copy of the petition filed by mother of Sandeep Kumar @ Sandy is annexed as Annexure P-7.
xxii) That it is submitted that respondent no 5 has arrested the following persons in FIR NO 101 and 102 who remained in custody for a long time because of addition of serious offences in the said FIRs.
Name and details of the persons arrested in FIR No 101
S No | Name | Sex |
1 | GURU DUTT MISHRA @ PRINCE | Male |
2 | UDAI RAJ S/O RAM BILASH | Male |
3 | RAJINDER KUMAR | Male |
4 | FEROZ ALI @ NAWAB | Male |
5 | MAHINDER SINGH | Male |
6 | RAHUL | Male |
7 | SEIKH HAMID @ RAJA | Male |
8 | SANJAY | Male |
9 | MAYA | Female |
10 | SAURABH YADAV @ SOHORU YADAV | Male |
11 | KULDEEP KUMAR VERMA | Male |
12 | VIKRAM YADAV | Male |
13 | MINISTER YADAV | Male |
14 | GURU DEV YADAV | Male |
Name and details of the persons arrested in FIR No 102
S No | Name | Sex |
1 | MAHINDRO | Male |
2 | AJAY SINGH S/O SH. SHER BAHADUR | Male |
3 | PARVESH KUMAR S/O RAM SURAT PATHAK | Male |
4 | MAYA | Female |
5 | MONU PAL @ MANU PAL | Male |
6 | RAM RAJ | Male |
7 | AJIT BHARDWAJ | Male |
8 | SINTU | Male |
9 | SANDEEP KUMAR | Male |
xxiii) That it is further to be noted that respondents nos. 2 to 4 are IPS Officers who are highly paid, professionally trained, having every type of infrastructure to tackle/deal with the protestors in the given circumstances with utmost care, minimum harm to public and minimum damage to public property. They have been given professional training to tackle such situations in which the general public sometimes is tense and agitated due to a genuine grievance and in such situations they are supposed to establish a communication, as harmonious and peaceful as possible, with such protestors who are only their fellow citizens and to bring the situation under control. But in the present case these senior police officials failed to perform their duties as expected from them. They acted in such an egotistic and power-drunk manner that they actually derived a sadistic pleasure in brutally assaulting the poor people including women and then slapping charges of serious offences against them.
xxiv) That the protestors were simple, poor slum-dwellers and belong to oppressed, broken and marginalized section of society which needs care and protection of the government and law enforcement agencies in helping them to come into the main-stream of the society. The Government is spending a large amount of money to meet the above said goal but the acts and behaviour of such senior officials creates a hindrance in their upliftment. No one has a right to create a division in the society between the privileged and the unprivileged by creating terror and playing with the lives of the poor people.
xxv. That another alarming and disturbing fact is that in the whole incident is that the police has miserably failed in the investigation and murder of 4 years old girl child namely Sarita and police has arrested only one minor boy just to show progress of the investigation of the FIR No 100. However, father of minor girl (petitioner no. 2) has stated the involvement three boys Sonu, Arjun and Monu in the murder and rape of his minor daughter. However, no action is being taken on his written representations to several highly designated officials and to police. Copies of the representations of petitioner No.2 are attached herewith as Annexures P-8 & P-9.
xxvi) That even similar incidents of missing of the girls have occurred in the colony no 4 and the guardians of the girls have not been informed about the status of the investigation made in the matter of these missing girls by the police. One similar incident occurred in the year 2013 in which one girl namely Nittu went missing and FIR No 249 dated 17.09.2013 under section 363 was registered in this regard. However, mother of the girl Nittu namely Parmila had alleged that there was no response from the Police Station Industrial Area Chandigarh and she also demanded investigation by some independent agency.
xxvii That the police officers deliberately slapped Section 307 of IPC on the poor people in order to browbeat and to terrorise them. The only fault of the poor slum dwellers was that they were expressing resentment against the ineffectiveness of the police in the performance of its duties. The poor slum dwellers who were arrested in this case had to remain in custody for long period of time as it became difficult to get bails due to serious sections of IPC slapped against the arrested accused.
The police had to delete section 307 of the IPC in the matter of FIR No.101 of 2015.
xxviii. It is relevant to mention that such horrific and terrifying atmosphere was created by the police for the slum dwellers that they could not raise their voices against the police repression and totality.
In order to remove their fear the petitioner no.1 and others organised a ‘maun vrat’ along with slum dwellers on 07.06.2015 against the said repression and to demand a CBI probe into the said incident.
- That from all these facts, the following questions and facts have emerged which remain unanswered till now and require a thorough probe to uncover the true facts:-
- What was the location of police officers of the PS Industrial Area staff from 1.00 AM to 6.00 A.M on 11.04.2015 and what were they doing at that time?
- What was the location of senior police officers DIG Sh. AS Cheema, SSP Shri Sukchain Singh Gill, ASP Sh. Parminder Singh from 1.00 AM to 1.00 P.M on 11.04.2015 and what were they doing at that time?
iii. Why the forest area particularly after the rape and murder of the minor girl, was not cordoned off by police officers?
- Why were the slum dwellers allowed to enter into the forest area after the recovery of the dead body of girl child?
- Why stone-pelting took place as claimed by the police and what was the cause of such stone-pelting?
- Why did the police, despite the presence of senior officers DIG Sh. AS Cheema, SSP Shri Sukchain Singh Gill, ASP Sh. Parminder Singh (now SP) Chandigarh, fail to control and pacify the protesters who were agitating against the brutal murder & rape of 4 years old girl? Why they failed to feel the pulse of the mob?
vii. What emergency and gravity compelled the police to make use of air fire, tear gas and rubber/plastic bullets?
viii. Why were the protesters beaten even on their private parts after stripping them naked?
- What specialized action was taken by the senior officials available at the place of protest to control these tense situations?
- Why the police registered FIR no. 101 and 102 under serious sections 307 and 395 IPC against the protestors/ slum-dwellers?
- Why were minors and ladies made accused in the FIR No 102/15, Police Station Industrial Area, Chandigarh?
xii. Whose commands and orders were followed by the policemen for committing such deeds of excessive violence at the place of protest?
xiii. Does anarchy unleashed by the police not amount to total callousness and unprofessionalism in the performance of official duties? The situation could have been brought under control by any civilian with powers of law enforcement without the brutalities and illegalities perpetrated by the police.
xiv. Why was there no display of professional / specialized training for which the police officials are being highly paid by the Administration?