Be present today, High Court tells CRPF Commandant

Ishfaq Tantry

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, August 29

The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has sought the presence of a CRPF battalion commander, who has been appointed as inquiry officer to investigate the case of assault on a court employee and abuse of the judiciary by its personnel.

On August 21, CRPF personnel allegedly beat up High Court employee Mohammad Ramzan and hurled abuses at Judges and the institution when he was on way to attend office.

The court had taken strong note of the incident and initiated suo motu proceedings into the incident. It had directed the Inspector General of Police, Kashmir range, to ensure that such an incident was not repeated. It had sought a response from the CRPF into the incident while listing the matter for August 29.

As the matter came up before a division Bench today, Assistant Solicitor General SA Makroo, in the response filed on behalf of the CRPF Inspector General (IG), submitted that the preliminary inquiry was underway.

He submitted that the statement of some witnesses had been recorded and it might take some more time to complete the inquiry, for which he sought more time.

Not satisfied with the response of the CRPF, the Bench directed the Commandant of the 117 Battalion of the CRPF, who had been appointed by the IG to conduct the internal inquiry into the matter, to remain present in court tomorrow to apprise the court of the status of investigation into the case.

“You can see him (the employee). His arm is fractured. This is not an incident wherein you needed so much time for the inquiry. You are not filing the inquiry report either,” the court observed after Makroo submitted that the Commandant was supposed to file the report to the IG.

Not satisfied with the response of the state government, the High Court directed the Advocate General to file the latest status report with regard to security at the district court complex in Bandipora and Srinagar by tomorrow.

On August 21, the High Court sought a response from the government to letters from the District and Sessions Judge, Bandipora, to the Registrar General on August 19, stating that damage was caused to the court building by a stone-throwing mob, besides threat to him and the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Bandipora.