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On June 28, 2022, after a minor road altercation, Dr. Raghvendra Agnihotri and his staff were later intercepted near Khudaganj by police officials, who allegedly fired shots, assaulted them, robbed valuables worth Rs. 16,200, and unlawfully confined them for over an hour
The Allahabad High Court recently refused to quash criminal proceedings against four police officials accused of assaulting and robbing a doctor and his companions following a road incident.
Court underlined that "police uniform is not a license to assault innocent citizens" and dismissed the officers' plea for protection under Section 197 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
On June 28, 2022, when Dr. Raghvendra Agnihotri and his staff were returning to Farrukhabad from Kanpur, their car allegedly brushed against a white car. A quarrel took place, however, the matter was subsided. Later that night, when the doctor reached near Khudaganj, three cars carrying several police officials, including Constables Kuldeep Yadav, Sudhir, Dushyant, and Sub-Inspector Animesh Kumar, stopped his car. The complaint alleged that the officers fired shots in the air, forcibly dragged the complainant and other co-passengers into police vehicles, physically assaulted them, and stole a gold chain along with cash worth Rs. 16,200. The victims were allegedly confined at a police post for over an hour before being released.
The accused officers, all posted with the Special Operations Group (SOG), Kannauj, moved the high court seeking quashing of the summoning order issued against them by a Special Judge for Dacoity-Affected Areas, claiming protection under Section 197 CrPC, which bars prosecution of public servants without prior sanction when acts are committed in the discharge of official duties.
Rejecting this argument, the bench of Justice Raj Beer Singh observed that there was no evidence to show that the accused were on official patrolling duty at the time of the alleged offence. The court noted the absence of any General Diary entry to suggest that the officers were performing official functions when they allegedly assaulted and robbed the victims. It further observed that "even if the accused were police officers, the acts alleged — firing in the air, assault, robbery, and illegal confinement — had no reasonable nexus with their official duties."
Citing recent Supreme Court judgments, particularly Om Prakash Yadav v. Niranjan Kumar Upadhyay, the high court emphasized that the shield of Section 197 CrPC is available only when the alleged acts are integrally connected to official duties. Excesses committed under the "cloak of office" without a reasonable connection to official functions do not attract such protection, the court reiterated.
The court also pointed to the medical evidence supporting the complainant's version: Dr. Agnihotri had sustained six injuries, his companion Saumya Dubey four injuries, and two others three injuries each. The bench ruled that the material on record clearly made out a prima facie case against the officers, and any evaluation of their defenses would be appropriate only during trial.
In conclusion, the high court dismissed the application filed under Section 528 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, paving the way for the continuation of criminal proceedings against the accused police officials.
Case Title: Animesh Kumar And 3 Others vs. State of U.P. and Another
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