HC notices to ex-Katihar SP, three other cops

PATNA: The Patna high court on Tuesday served notices on former Katihar SP Siddharth Mohan Jain and three other police officers for illegally keeping four persons in the lock-up for two days in February last year. Jain is now SP in State Crime Records Bureau (SCRB). The other three police officers are the then Katihar SDPO Babu Lal Yadav, the then Town police station SHO Nirmal Kumar Yadvendu and sub-inspector Sunil Kumar Singh.
While hearing a contempt petition filed by Meghu Das, Sourav Paul and Mukesh Kumar Mandal, a bench of Justice Rajeev Ranjan Prasad also served show-cause notice on the state government and ordered it to reply within three weeks on the issue.
Petitioners’ counsel Prasoon Sinha submitted that they were arrested on February 15 for allegedly running an institute without proper permission at Bata Chowk in Katihar. Sinha submitted that the accused were running the institute for imparting typing, sewing, computer course and other skills to the youths after seeking permission from the central government under Pradhan Mantri Rojgar Yojana.
Sinha alleged that the petitioners were tortured in custody before producing in the Katihar CJM court on February 17.
He apprised the court that their illegal custody for two days was clear violation of the Supreme Court guidelines in the DK Basu case.
Sinha also submitted that not only the accused were kept in illegal custody for two days, but police also manipulated the memo of arrest by making overwriting on dates. “Police, in connivance with court clerks, also changed the date below signature of the CJM,” he alleged.