Ghaziabad police have suspended two sub-inspectors after a preliminary inquiry found that the family members of a missing teenage girl were assaulted and that procedures were ignored at a police outpost in the Khoda area. A departmental inquiry has also been ordered against the officers.
The suspended personnel are Lodhi outpost in-charge Sheel Chandra and sub-inspector Desh Deepak Verma, who was posted at the same outpost. According to the report, the action followed a complaint submitted to Deputy Commissioner of Police Riju, in-charge of the Trans-Hindon area.
The teenage girl had allegedly been taken away by a young man from the Khoda police station area about two weeks earlier. The two officers reportedly recovered her about a week before the suspension and brought her to the Lodhi outpost. Her brother and uncle then reached the outpost and asked that she be taken to the police station so that her statement could be recorded.
The family alleged that the officers behaved abusively and took the girl’s brother and uncle inside the outpost before assaulting them. The report also said the family alleged that the officers were under the influence of alcohol at the time. Other family members arrived after the incident and created a commotion, following which the police were informed.
Personnel sent from the Khoda police station reportedly found that both officers had left the outpost. The family alleged that the officers’ mobile phones were switched off when they were contacted. The brother and uncle later went to the police station, where they underwent medical examinations. The report said the medical reports confirmed serious injuries.
DCP Riju said the preliminary inquiry had confirmed assault and negligence in the officers’ working procedures. On that basis, the two personnel were suspended and a departmental inquiry was ordered. The officer said disciplinary action would follow the inquiry and that other allegations were also being examined.
The report said the officers were also accused of avoiding a medical examination linked to the allegation that they had been intoxicated. According to the police account cited in the report, the officers could not be contacted after the complaint was received and did not appear for the proposed examination. The allegation of intoxication remains part of the inquiry and has not been established as a fact.
The episode has also raised a procedural issue concerning the handling of cases involving a teenage girl. Police officials cited in the report said victims in women’s-crime cases are generally brought to the police station rather than kept at an outpost, and that the girl’s presence at the outpost was itself contrary to procedure. The station police were reportedly not informed that she had been recovered until the family contacted them.
The departmental inquiry will determine the extent of the officers’ responsibility and whether further disciplinary action is warranted. The police department has said that such conduct towards members of the public will not be tolerated.
