Patna High Court has directed principal home secretary Amir Subhani and director-general of police P.K. Thakur to appear in person before the court on July 4 in connection with the alleged assault of a magistrate by two police officials in Gopalganj on Thursday.
The order coincided with a counter FIR filed against the judge, Prabhunath Prasad, by sub-inspector Arvind Kumar Yadav, who has accused the judicial officer of inciting advocates to assault him. Prasad had on Thursday accused Yadav of slapping him.
In his FIR filed at the town police station in Gopalganj, Yadav said he was on duty at Maunia Chowk when the incident happened around 10.10am on Thursday. The road connecting the civil court and the collectorate at Maunia Chowk was barricaded and only movement of the vehicles of the district magistrate, superintendent of police and judicial officers were allowed as the Zila Parishad election was in progress on the collectorate premises.
Prasad reached Maunia Chowk on a motorbike but was stopped by constable Pawan Kumar Singh.
"When I tried to intervene, he hurled abuses on the constable and me. Some other cops, including Santosh Kumar, who rushed to the spot, had to face similar action (sic)," Yadav has alleged in the FIR.
In his FIR on Thursday, judge Prasad has accused Yadav and the constable (who is unnamed in the complaint) of slapping and assaulting him when he wanted to access the road leading to the court.
Gopalganj district and sessions judge Sunil Dutta Mishra had on Thursday apprised the high court of the incident. On Friday, the high court division bench of Acting Chief Justice Iqbal Ahmed Ansari and Justice Chakradhari Sharan Singh passed the order directing the home secretary and DGP to appear before it.
Talking to The Telegraph, senior high court advocate Bindhyachal Singh, who appeared on behalf of the high court, said: "Directive has also been issued to the Saran divisional commissioner to submit a report to the court with regard to Thursday's incident."
In addition, Singh said, the court had also asked the registrar-general of the high court to examine the report of the district magistrate and superintendent of police with the CD having the video footage of Thursday's incident.
Tirhut divisional commissioner Atul Kumar, who holds additional charge of Saran, reached Gopalganj on Friday evening to record the statements of judge Prasad and the policemen allegedly involved in the incident.
The commissioner could not be reached for comment. Gopalganj superintendent of police Ravi Ranjan said a joint report by him and the district magistrate had been sent to the government.
Asked about any disciplinary action against the policemen, the SP said that would depend on the directive of the government. "Since the court (high court) has already issued instructions in this connection, it would not be prudent to comment on the issue at this juncture," he told The Telegraph over phone from Gopalganj.
Gopalganj district magistrate Rahul Kumar said he had discussed the matter with the district judge and other administrative and police officials. "Action is being taken against the erring cops," he added.
Judge Prasad had submitted a written complaint to the chief judicial magistrate of Gopalganj, demanding action against the cops involved in the incident.
The functioning of the civil court remained affected for the second day on Friday as lawyers and employees abstained from work to protest the alleged high-handedness of police.
