Colonel Pushpinder Singh Bath had accused 12 Punjab Police personnel of assaulting him and his son over a parking dispute in Patiala outside a dhaba in March.
Chandigarh:The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday rejected the anticipatory bail plea of Punjab Police inspector Ronnie Singh Salh in connection with the assault case of Army Colonel Pushpinder Singh Bath in Patiala more than two months ago.
Colonel Pushpinder Singh Bath had accused 12 Punjab Police personnel of assaulting him and his son over a parking dispute in Patiala outside a dhaba in March.
Bath had then alleged that the assailants -- four inspector-rank officers of Punjab Police and their armed subordinates -- attacked him and his son without provocation, snatched his ID card and mobile phone, and threatened him with a "fake encounter" -- all in public view and under CCTV camera coverage. The colonel suffered a broken arm, while his son had a cut on his head in the incident.
"This vile, uncivilised, pitiless and brutal way is not the manner in which a police force ought to behave with its people, anywhere, and especially, in a democratic country like ours," Justice Anoop Chitkara observed in his order.
This horrific, "gut-wrenching incident" showcases the complete misuse of police power by these officers, he said.
"...Even if it is hypothetically assumed that the victims had wrongfully parked their car on the roadside, still the job of a law enforcement officer is to issue a challan (ticket) to that motor vehicle which has violated any such law.
"It is not the job of any trained law enforcer, skilled in the efficient use of force continuum to mete out unmerciful, furious beatings to a common man on the drop of the hat and disrespect civilians, wielding their authority to disregard and disrupt law and order themselves," Justice Chitkara observed.
It appears that this was an unfortunate case of gross misuse of emergency powers under the Police Act, the order reads.
The judge said in his order that the prime duty of the police is not to instil fear in the minds of public using unwarranted force but to secure observance of law and order and to bring that goal to fruition, a prerequisite is adherence to and respect for legal framework itself.
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