New Delhi: The Supreme Court, on Monday, turned down a plea by the Punjab Police against an order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court to hand over the probe into the assault of a serving Indian Army colonel and his son by policemen to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
On the intervening night of March 13-14, Col Pushpinder Singh Bath was having dinner with his son outside a dhaba in Patiala when a posse of policemen arrived and asked him to move his vehicle as some ‘high official’ is to park there.
An altercation broke out after the colonel refused to heed the order. The policemen then proceeded to assualt the Army officer brutally. His son was also suffered injuries when he attempted to save his father. Col Bath lodged a complaint against 12 policemen but an FIR was registered by the police only after eight days.
The probe was handed over to the Chandigarh Police initially to ensure transparency, but this did not help. Some policemen were subsequently suspended but they were declared absconders after a court issued non-bailable warrants against them. The High Court took cognizance of this and transferred the investigation to the CBI.
The HC had observed at the time that there was no material to show that the investigation was being conducted in a fair manner.
On Monday, the Supreme Court bench of Justice Sanjay Kumar and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma noted that the High Court had passed a “well-reasoned” order. It als reminding the police personnel that they can “sleep peacefully” at home because Army personnel are serving at the border.
“Have some respect for Army people. You are sleeping peacefully in your house because that man is serving at the border at -40 degrees,” the Court observed.
The Supreme Court further stressed that it was not willing to accept any kind of “lawlessness”.
“We are going to dismiss this appeal with heavy costs. Let the CBI look into this. They (Army) go and defend you, and they come back wrapped in a national flag,” Justice Sharma added.
