Court directs police to register FIR against Tehsildar Gund Kangan
_Recommends administrative action against DC Ganderbal and SDM Kangan_
Srinagar, Oct 06, KDC: In an incident of demanding bribe from an applicant seeking revenue papers and thereafter thrashing them on their submitting a complaint with Deputy Commissioner Ganderbal, the court of Judicial Magistrate Kangan in Ganderbal district has directed the SSP Ganderbal to lodge an FIR against Tehsildar Gund, while the Chief Secretary of Jammu and Kashmir has been directed to take administrative action against Deputy Commissioner Ganderbal and Sub-divisional Magistrate (SDM) Kangan for showing an indifferent behavior towards the complaint of the applicants and the incident that took place thereafter.
According to the court order a copy of which lies with news agency Kashmir Dot Com- (KDC) one Nazira Bano and Ghulam Hyder Chachi approached the court of Judicial Magistrate Kangan Manzoor Hussain with a complaint that they had approached Tehsildar Gund, Fareed Ahmed Khatana with a plea to issue revenue papers of 04 kanals of land; however the said Tehsildar demanded 50,000 rupees bribe from the applicants, in lieu of issuance of revenue papers.
However, the applicants refused to pay any bribe to the Tehsildar. Being aggrieved of the act/conduct of the Tehsildar, the applicants went to the Deputy Commissioner Ganderbal and made a written application/complaint before him wherein, applicants disclosed that the non-applicant demanded bribe of Rs 50,000/- In lieu of issuance of Revenue papers respecting the above said land.
The application further stated that the Deputy Commissioner in his response, instead of initiating a proper action regarding the complaint, directed the accused the Tehsildar to investigate the matter.
Infuriated over the applicants taking matter to the Deputy Commissioner, the said Tehsildar locked the applicants in the room and abused and thrashed them, despite one of the applicants being a woman, holding an infant baby in her arms, who fell down from her arms and was rushed to the hospital.
It was also alleged that the Tehsildar thrashed female applicant touched her private parts, torn her clothes and outraged her modesty.
Thereafter, the matter was brought into the notice of SDM Kangan, but no action was taken against the accused. The whole incident was video-graphed by someone which was thereafter uploaded on the Social Media, the application stated.
The application further stated that it was disclosed that one person who uploaded the video clips of the occurrence on the Social Media was threatened for deletion of the same. The applicants again approached the Deputy Commissioner Ganderbal on the same day with a new complaint against the Non-Applicant, but no action was taken.
It was alleged that the applicants reported the incident to SHO Police Station Gund, who did not take any action and refused to register FIR against the Non-Applicant for the reason that, the Non-Applicant is the Magistrate of the area and he cannot register FIR against him.
In the instant application submitted by the Nazira Bano and Ghulam Hyder Chachi through their Counsels namely Iqbal Wani and Firdous Ahmad Bhat Advocates, they sought a direction to the concerned Police Agency in view of Section 156 (3) Cr.P.C for investigation and registration of FIR against the accused Tehsildar.
Disposing the matter on 05-10-2020, the court directed SSP Ganderbal to register an FIR against the accused Tehsildar.
The court further said that keeping in view the seriousness of allegations contained in the application on the one hand and inaction on the part of Deputy Commissioner Ganderbal and SDM Kangan shown by them when approached by the applicants on the other hand, let one copy of this order along with application/annexures be sent to the Administrative Head (Chief Secretary) of the UT of Jammu and Kashmir for initiating appropriate administrative action against the concerned sub-ordinate Officers as warranted under Law just to ensure that the faith and confidence of the public is not lost/weakened in the Public Administration.
Meanwhile, SSP Ganderbal Mohammad Khalil Poswal, while sharing his part regarding the judgment told KDC that he has received a copy of the judgment and the action on his side is in offing in accordance with the directions of the court. (KDC)
