Prasun Mukherjee

Calcutta, Aug. 14: Police’s attempt to break up the marriage of Rizwanur Rehman and Priyanka Todi was “unconstitutional” and “inhuman”, the high court said on Thursday.

“The way the police handled the case was unconstitutional and against the rule book... They were fed with false allegations (by Priyanka’s family) which they accepted unquestioningly,” Justice Dipankar Dutta said on Thursday.

The judge allowed the CBI to file chargesheets against three police officers and four members of the Todi family — including Priyanka’s father Ashok — for their role in driving Rizwanur to suicide.

On the police, the court said “there are two kinds of thanas in the city” — local police stations where “common people” lodge their complaints and the one in Lalbazar where “influential people” go.

“It seems the police only act on complaints lodged with Lalbazar,” Justice Dutta said, referring to the manner in which the cops had summoned Rizwanur and Priyanka to their headquarters following a “complaint” from the Todis.

The judge said this was done even after Karaya police station — Rizwanur’s house in Tiljala Lane is under its jurisdiction — confirmed that the marriage was legal.

On former police commissioner Prasun Mukherjee, the court said he had “suppressed facts” and that his statement on September 23 that Rizwanur had committed suicide “only added fuel to the fire”. The statement came two days after the 30-year-old graphic designer’s body was found on the railway tracks in Patipukur and before the post-mortem report arrived.

“In the press conference, Mukherjee had suppressed the fact that he had already met Pradip Todi who had sought his help in breaking up the marriage... He gave credence to the false allegations levelled by the Todis…This encouraged his subordinates to harass the couple even more,” the judge observed.

As for Gyanwant Singh and Ajoy Kumar, the two deputy commissioners who have since been transferred, the court said they had acted “illegally by interfering in the affairs of a legally married couple”. “It’s a fact that the pressure applied by the police on Rizwanur to break up his marriage led to his death. He felt suffocated...”

The judge said it was clear that Priyanka’s father Ashok Todi had influenced the police and that the CBI had “done no wrong” by filing a murder case against the Todis before starting its probe.