A Division Bench of the Tripura High Court, comprising of Chief Justice Akil Quresi and Justice S. G. Chattopadhya has observed, in a PIL seeking criminal action against the District Magistrate who raided a marriage function, that the enquiry initiated against him should be done by including a Retired District Judge in the Committee constituted by the State Government.
“Looking to the sensitive nature of the incident serious allegations and counter allegations made by both sides, we are of the opinion that such inquiry committee should be expanded so as to include a retired District Judge.”
Background of the Case
In this case, two petitions were filed. The first petition (in form of a PIL) was filed by an advocate on behalf of the Groom's brother stating that the incident took happened on April 26, 2021. The District Magistrate (DM) made a raid on the guest house in which marriages were taking place. The petitioner stated that the DM misused his power and misbehaved with all the members present in the function.
The second Petition was filed by the Priest who was present at the wedding. He submitted that the DM physically hit him and misbehaved with him.
Reasoning and Decision of the Court
The Court asked Advocate General about the execution of its order regarding shifting of DM out of Agartala. The AG replied that the DM was divested from all the charges and he has gone on leave for 12 days with permission to leave the station and, therefore, this would be sufficient compliance with the Court's Order.
The Court vehemently opposed this response of the AG and expressed that,
"we are of the opinion that this would only be a stopgap arrangement and in any case does not satisfy the request that we had made to the learned Advocate General which was recorded in our order dated 03.05.2021."
The AG further informed the Court that an order transferring the District Magistrate outside Agartala would be passed by the Government and the Court was satisfied with it. The Court was informed that an FIR was filed by the father of the bride whose marriage was to take place on that night.
The Petition stated that on the night of 26.04.2021 under the instructions of the District Magistrate large number of family members and guests attending the marriage function were detained at the police station for a considerable period of time. This included women and children.
The AG defended this issue by stating that in order to provide safe passage- they were brought to the West Agartala Police Station and the women and children were taken to the Women Police Station.
On AG's submission, the Court reiterated that,
“We are unable to appreciate why if the administration was desirous of providing a safe passage to the citizens, the same could not have been done from the marriage hall or the outside precincts thereof and what was the need for bringing the entire marriage party including women and children to the police station.”
Perusing all the circumstances, the Court passed the following Order,
"1- An order of transfer of the District Magistrate to Belonia.
2- The two-member inquiry committee should include former District Judge Mr. Subhash Sikdar.
3- The terms of the committee working procedure.
4- The report of the inquiry shall not be published without first placing it before the Court and without the leave of the Court
5- Members of the public should not burden the administration by filing fresh complaints unless some new allegation or angle which is not already brought on record comes to light."
Case Details
Case: - W.P. (C) (PIL) No.05/2021 , W.P. (C) No.346/2021
Counsel for Petitioner: - Ms. R. Guha, Mr. D.J. Saha, Mr. Somik Deb, Mr. Abir Baran
Counsel for Respondent: - Mr. S.S. Dey, Ms. Ayantika Chakraborty
Judge: Justice N Anand Venkatesh
Read Order@LatestLaws.com
Share this Document :Picture Source :
