Keywords: High Court, Police constable, Assault
During a special session held on Sunday night, the court took suo moto cognisance of the heinous incident and summoned applicable officers to appear before it. In the case of a vicious attack on a ledies police constable who aboard the Saryu Express on August 30 and assulted by unidentified assaulters, the Allahabad High Court has ordered the Government Railway Police (GRP), Lucknow, to present a progress report in court on September 13, 2023. Preliminarily, during a special session held on Sunday night, the court took suo moto cognisance of the heinous incident and summoned applicable officers to appear before it. The court decided to treat this matter as a public interest action(PIL). This directive was issued by a division bench composed of Chief Justice Pritinker Diwakar and Justice Ashutosh Srivastava on Monday while hearing the PIL.On Monday, SP Puja Yadav for GRP, Lucknow, along with the deputy SP from the Railway division were present in the court. SP Puja Yadav told the court that the victim’s statement under section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code
(CrPC) couldn’t be attained as she’s presently unfit to give a statement. She stated that no evidence implicating any specific individualities has surfaced therefore far also, there’s no substantiation of sexual assault; the victim’s injuries are confined to her head and face. Still, when questioned about the details of the incident and the timing, SP Puja Yadav was unable to give a clear response. She mentioned that the incident likely passed between Ayodhya station and Mankapur station, and the weapon used has not been recovered. During the Sunday hearing, the court directed the court registry to serve notices to the central government through its clerk, the Ministry of Railway Board in New Delhi, the director-general of Railway Protection Force (RPF), the Uttar Pradesh Government through its clerk, the Ministry of Home Affairs, and the State Commission for Women, Uttar Pradesh. It’s worth recalling that the 45 year old woman head constable was discovered unconscious with multiple stab injuries in a general compartment of the Saryu Express at Ayodhya Junction road station on last Wednesday, originally, sexual assault was suspected due to the absence of the lower part of the head constables uniform, SP Puja Yadav of GRP, Lucknow, has refuted any incident of sexual offense grounded on the ongoing investigation. An FIR has been registered against unidentified individualities under IPC sections 307(attempt to murder), 332(assault on public servant), and 353( assault of felonious force to discourage a public menial) on the complaint of the head constable’s family members at the Ayodhya Cantt GRP station.
Shaikh Rizwan, Government Law college,Mumbai , 2nd year,interning at legal vidhya
