PS (Home), DGP Haryana Police and CP Gurugram sleeping like ‘Kumbhkarna’ over prosecution sanction: CBI court

Bhartesh Singh Thakur
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, February 2 

Passing strictures against Principal Secretary (Home), DGP Haryana Police and Commissioner of Police (CP) Gurugram for sitting over prosecution sanction against four police officials for over five months, CBI Special Judicial Magistrate, Haryana, Dr Aman Inder Singh, on Tuesday said that they were “sleeping over the request of the premier investigating agency of the country like a ‘Kumbhakarna’” instead of discharging their duties without any delay.

The case is related to the murder of 7-year-old boy on September 8, 2017 in a Gurugram school. After the registration of FIR, the local police had arrested Ashok Kumar, conductor of the school bus. Later, the case was handed over to the CBI which claimed that Ashok Kumar was falsely framed and a senior student of class 11th murdered the 7-year-old by slitting the throat with a knife.

Last month, the CBI filed a chargesheet against the then ACP Sohna, Gurugram, Birem Singh; Inspector Narinder Singh Khatana, retired Inspector Shamsher Singh and ESI Subhash Chand for wrongly framing Ashok Kumar before CBI magistrate at Panchkula. It said that they “knowingly, intentionally, dishonestly, wrongfully, fraudulently fabricated false evidence with intent to procure conviction of capital punishment” against Ashok Kumar.

The CBI had approached Principal Secretary Home on August 19, 2020 for prosecution sanction against Birem Singh and DGP Haryana Police was approached on September 30, 2020 for sanction against Khatana and Shamsher Singh. The CP Gurugram was approached for sanction against Chand on September 30, 2020.

But no sanction was granted despite reminder on January 22 this year, submitted the CBI before the court today.

“Here, more than five months have elapsed and the sanctioning authority is yet to wake up from its deep slumber,” observed the judge.

“It is indeed dismal state of affairs on the part of the authority saddled with the task of granting/declining the sanction to prosecute the accused, that so far as the decision whatsoever upon the request of the investigating agency has been ducked by it despite being approached time and again,” added the judge.

“Unfortunately, this court has been pushed against the wall in making a candid observation against the authority tasked with the exercise of sanction to prosecute the accused that at an appropriate stage, appropriate proceedings under the law of the land may be initiated against that authority. It has been rightly said that ‘be you ever so high, the law is above you,’” observed the court.

The court observed that it appeared that the “sanctioning authority is having a dogged determination not to grant sanction to prosecute the accused owning to the sense of camaraderie and at the same time, it appears to be frightened of the fact that the order of declining the request of the investigating agency may fall short of facing the judicial scrutiny”.

The judge ordered the CBI for sending the copy of today’s order to the concerned competent sanctioning authority “within a period of eight days and the compliance of the same be intimated to this court within next ten days”.

“If the sanctioning authority fails to take the request of the investigating agency to its logical conclusion by the next date of hearing, it shall file a detailed affidavit highlighting the facts and circumstances coming in its way, in this regard,” said the order.

The next date of hearing is February 22.