A Delhi court on Thursday asked the city’s Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) to report to it by December 1 as to what action was taken on a traffic policeman’s complaint alleging harassment against two judicial officers following his act of challaning the brother of one of them.
Metropolitan Magistrate Neeraj Gaur called for the action-taken report after Head Constable Maheelal Meena, a law graduate, submitted that he had gone to the police station concerned to lodge a complaint, which was not accepted, following which he pursued the matter with his senior officers.
His lawyer, Satya Prakash Sharma, told the court that Subzi Mandi police had refused to register an FIR based on his client’s complaint that various Indian Penal Code offences like public servant disobeying law, obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions, criminal intimidation, defamation and criminal conspiracy were committed against him. Mr. Sharma told the court that a police probe was needed in the matter as call detail records would have to be accessed.
In his complaint, Maheelal said that on June 14 this year he had challaned the brother of a Commercial Civil Judge-cum-Additional Rent Controller for not wearing a helmet while riding a scooter in East Delhi. He alleged that the brother called the judge who ordered that the violator be spared. Maheelal alleged that his immediate superior took him to see the judge after which he was forced to pay the fine of Rs.100 for the violator and also return the driving licence at the judge’s brother’s house.
The complainant alleged that the same day a Metropolitan Magistrate summoned him to his home and directed Maheelal’s superior, a traffic inspector, to depute him to his court for duty from June 21. Maheelal claimed he went on leave from June 21 to 25 and then on June 26 he was forced to do the job of calling in violators at the entry to the court and thus made to “work as a peon” on June 26, 27, and 28, while his juniors did jobs while seated on chairs.
Maheelal said he refused to report for court duty on June 30 after informing his superior and was marked absent for the day. He alleged that as a result of the “partial, disgraceful, illegal and unjustified behaviour and derogatory remarks” of the two judicial officers he was “hurt, harassed, compelled and depressed” and had to visit the hospital for treatment on July 3 and 4. He said that on July 9 he gave a written complaint about the acts of the two judicial officers to his senior officers who sent the complaint to the Registrar-General, Delhi High Court, on July 17 but till date neither the police nor the Delhi High Court had intimated him of any action taken so far.
