Times of India: Nagpur: Friday, June 15, 2018.
The National
Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has asked the city police to furnish status
report of the preliminary enquiry against police personnel, who have been
slapped with offences for abetting the suicide of gym trainer James Joseph
alias Prakash Jarwar.
In its order
in the first week of June, NHRC has asked police to submit the report within
six weeks.
James, a
popular gym trainer in north Nagpur, committed suicide by hanging himself at
his residence in Martin Nagar on April 25. He took the drastic decision after
being allegedly thrashed twice by constable Ajay Madavi at his workplace at the
instance of woman cop Bridgette James. Ajay and Bridgette, along with her
mother Jyoti, were booked for abetment to commit suicide by Jaripatka police.
Activist
Ankita Shah, representing James’ mother Elizabeth as her counsel in the high
court, had approached NHRC claiming lackadaisical approach of the city police
in the case. Shah said police did not even arrest the accused cops even as
there was a charge of destruction of evidence, along with suicide abetment.
She pointed
out several loopholes in the case by the cops to shield their colleagues and
the mother of one of them.
Shah said the
cops have remained so casual in the case that the zonal DCP did not even bother
to appear before NHRC despite being summoned to submit the investigation
report.
“The senior
cops did not even bother to appear before the State Information Commission when
summoned after their earlier decision to deny me the reports prepared against
the three accused in the case under the RTI Act,” she said.
Police, in
their earlier reply before NHRC, claimed that they could not arrest the accused
as the court had already granted them anticipatory bail. The police department
also claimed that there was no need to transfer the case to the crime branch or
state CID as the charge sheet has been already filed.
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