Patna, March 15: Station house officers (SHOs) beware! Dilly-dallying attitude towards the complaints of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST) people can land you in trouble.

In a letter to all the superintendents of police (SPs), inspector-general (weaker section) Arvind Pandey has asked them to initiate disciplinary action against the SHOs failing to register complaints of the SC/ST people in connection with land dispute under Section 7 of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

“Usually the complaints of the people belonging to the SC/ST category with regard to land dispute are not entertained at police stations. The victims are asked to get their complaints registered at the SC/ST police station only, which is not fair,” the letter stated. The SPs have been asked to ensure the complaints related to land dispute are instituted at the police station concerned and probed on a priority basis. Referring to the relevant section of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, Pandey said: “The public servants are liable to punishment if they are found to be omitting duty.”

Sources said Pandey has recommended disciplinary action against the SHO of Phulwarisharif police station in Patna for refusing to entertain the complaint of Chhotan Choudhary, a resident of Mohammadpur Korji in Patna rural area. Choudhary had submitted a written complaint to the personnel manning the Phulwarisharif police station charging Shyam Narain Rai, Upendra Rai, Surendra Rai, Sunil Rai and Sheela Devi with forcibly grabbing his house in January last year.

When Choudhary approached the SHO to get his complaint lodged, the police officer not only turned a deaf ear to it but also rebuked him.

“The SHO asked the victim to go to the SC/ST police station to lodge his complaint though it was around 6km away from the Phulwarisharif police station under whose jurisdiction the area is,” an investigating officer said. The SHO has also been charged with intimidating the witnesses in the case.

When the IG came to know about the matter, he first got Choudhary’s complaint lodged at the SC/ST police station in Patna and then asked the SP (weaker section) to supervise the case. The case (No. 03/11) was lodged under sections 147, 427 and 380 of the IPC. “The allegations against the accused were true,” said a senior officer associated with the investigation.

The IG reviewed all the cases lodged at the 10 SC/ST police stations in the state.