The Bombay High Court on Monday\u00a0directed the Mumbai police commissioner to set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to conduct a probe against four policemen who allegedly fatally assaulted a 22-year-old man here while imposing the COVID-19 lockdown in March.<\/p>\n
The SIT should comprise two senior police officials and carry out the probe expeditiously, said a division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Anuja Prabhudessai.<\/p>\n
The bench ordered constitution of SIT after observing it was not satisfied with the probe being conducted in the case since April by the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Bandra division.<\/p>\n
There are prima facie allegations of police excess committed on the deceased victim. Hence, we expected the Mumbai police to complete the probe with utmost expedition.<\/p>\n
“However, the situation that emerges leaves a lot to be desired, the court said in its order.<\/p>\n
“We have no option but to direct the Commissioner of Police, Mumbai, to constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT) comprising two senior police officers of impeccable integrity and unquestionable competence within 24 hours, it added.<\/p>\n
The court said it expects the new probe team to submit a charge-sheet within a month.<\/p>\n
We hope and trust that the SIT shall fairly and freely complete the investigation and submit a charge-sheet before the competent court within a month, the court said.<\/p>\n
The bench was hearing a petition filed by an advocate, Firdause Irani, raising concerns over police “excesses” while enforcing the COVID-19 lockdown which was first declared in March-end.<\/p>\n
Irani, in his plea, pointed out the case related to one Raju Devendra, whose family alleged that on March 29 night, when they were going to their relatives place, a police team chased them and caught him in suburban Vile Parle.<\/p>\n
The policemen allegedly informed the relatives that they were taking Devendra to the suburban Juhu police station, the plea said.<\/p>\n
The next morning, the police informed the family that Devendra was found lying at a nearby chowk (square) and declared dead when taken to hospital, the petition said.<\/p>\n
The police initially claimed the man died after he was assaulted by a mob who suspected him of committing a robbery, it said.<\/p>\n
Last month, the Maharashtra government told the high court that as per CCTV footage, Devendra was assaulted by four police constables.<\/p>\n
On Monday, government pleader Purnima Kantharia told the HC that a departmental inquiry has been initiated against the four constables who were placed under suspension by an order dated July 31.<\/p>\n
The court, however, was not satisfied just with their suspension.<\/p>\n
They will get a salary without doing any work. We are not at all impressed with the state of affairs, Chief Justice Datta noted.<\/p>\n
The court posted the plea for further hearing on September 21.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Bombay High Court on Monday\u00a0directed the Mumbai police commissioner to set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to conduct a probe against four policemen who allegedly fatally assaulted a 22-year-old man here while imposing the COVID-19 lockdown in March. The SIT should comprise two senior police officials and carry out the probe expeditiously, said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51702,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[47292],"class_list":["post-60174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-law-news","tag-sit-probe-in-fatal-assault-on-man-by-cops"],"yoast_head":"\n