Calcutta High Court on Friday instructed police not to take any coercive action against customs officer Pradeep Kumar till November 20. Kumar was attacked inside his house in Sonarpur, but later he was accused of molesting a woman in a counter-complaint.

The bench of Justice Shubhra Ghosh expressed dissatisfaction about the role of the police.

A lawyer said that Justice Ghosh asked the state’s counsel whether the police had followed the protocol of carrying out an immediate inquiry and sending a summons to the officer before drawing an FIR against him.

The court then ordered the police not to take any coercive action against Kumar till November 20.

On October 23, a mob barged into a housing society and reached Kumar’s rented apartment on the fourth floor of tower 11. They made a forced entry into the house to beat him up.

The attack was allegedly the outcome of an
altercation outside the housing complex where Kumar’s car had collided with an autorickshaw.

The auto driver had later alleged that Kumar molested his mother — an allegation that prompted the attack.

There were allegations of delay and inaction on the part of the police while the attack was going on. Later, based on the officer’s complaint, the police started a case and arrested five men.

The cops had drawn an FIR against Kumar based on the autorickshaw driver’s counter-complaint.

Kumar had approached the court seeking a court-monitored probe into the case.