NBW AGAINST COP FOR TORTURING NUAPADA TRIBAL
NBW AGAINST COP FOR TORTURING NUAPADA TRIBAL
Sunday, 25 January 2015 | AJIT PANDA | NUAPADA | in Bhubaneswar
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The Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) of Khariar in Nuapada district, taking cognisance of a case filed by a tribal of Tukla village under the Khariar police station (PS), has issued a non-bailable warrant (NBW) to Sibaram Sahu, who is an ex-Inspector-in-Charge (IIC) of Khariar PS.
A warrant has also been issued to co-accused Ghanashyam (alias Ganga) Meher, an influential liquor trader of the area. The JMFC, after hearing a protest petition filed by complainant Manuraj Majhi, has issued the NBWs to the accused persons.
Sahu is presently working as an Inspector in the Jaipur Vigilance Division.
Majhi appeared at the Khariar PS in 2013 to file an FIR against Ganga Meher, who allegedly abused him using derogatory language against his caste and threatened to kill him pointing his (Meher’s) revolver at him. “But instead of registering the case, the then IIC Sibaram Sahu threatened to kill me vide encounter if I filed the FIR,” said Majhi.
Majhi subsequently filed a complaint against the IIC in the Human Rights Protection Cell (HRPC), Bhubaneswar. The HRPC directed the Superintendent of Police, Nuapada, to register the case and also to conduct an inquiry into the complaint. A case against Sahu and Meher was thus registered at the Khariar PS under various Sections of IPC and SC/ST (PA) Act.
The SP entrusted the responsibility of inquiry to a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP). “How can a police officer write against his own subordinate?” Majhi doubted. “Obviously, the DSP submitted a favourable report in support of the then IIC and my FIR was considered to be false,” added Majhi.
On the basis of this report, the police administration prepared the final report to drop the case and exonerated the accused persons of all allegations. Then, the IIC filed the Prosecution Report (PR) in court under Section 211 of IPC, which meant that Majhi committed offence by filing a fabricated case in the PS against him and his accompany.
Receiving the court notice that he would be prosecuted, Majhi filed a protest report and the JMFC after recording his statements and his witnesses took cognizance and issued NBWs to Sahu and Meher.
It is learnt that there are two other such allegations of highhandedness against Sibaram Sahu in HRPC and ST & SC Commission during his tenure at Khariar. But no action has been initiated against Sahu.
One Hrudaya Sunani of Tukla village, who was allegedly beaten and repeatedly harassed by Meher had filed petitions in HRPC and SC Commission against inactiveness of the Khariar police when Sahu was the IIC. Directed by the SC Commission, the district police conducted an inquiry and submitted a report stating that Sunani was a habitual offender. Sunani had tried to restore his 57 decimal of land from Meher’s alleged encroachment.
“In connivance with Ganga Meher, the police have filed six fabricated cases against me and one each against my wife and father and we have been jailed every time,” says Sunani.
Minu Satnami, a widow of Badi village, has also such allegation against Sibaram Sahu. She filed a complaint in the NHRC in November 2012 against Sahu that her husband Bijaya Satnami succumbed to a head injury as he was not provided any treatment when he was detained in the police lockup by Sahu for more than 24 hours. Bijaya was brought to the police station and put in the lockup by Sahu when he was going to hospital.
“My husband wanted to file an FIR against the person who caused his head injury, but Sahu did not listen,” says Minu. She had also alleged that Sahu, to settle score against her and her supporters, arrested on fabricated charges one of her relatives, VV Giri, a journalist, who helped her to report her case to the NHRC.
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