Challan in wrong court embarrasses Chandigarh police

CHANDIGARH: The Chandigarh police faced major embarrassment when it failed to file a chargesheet against the three accused in a rape case of a minor in stipulated time in the correct

court

leading the accused to apply for a default bail. The court has also issued notice to Chandigarh police on their bail application where by the three accused has sought default bail under section 167 (2) of the CrPC.

The police prepared the chargesheet and also submitted in the court but not in the “special court”. Going by law, in cases involving the POCSO act, the

challan

is to be filed in the special court and not in the court of the civil judge The three accused have been identified as Suresh, Shankar and Kamal Joshi who moved the default bail application. Defence Counsel Amar Singh Chahal argued that the Sector 36 police station has filed a challan within 90 days but it did not submit it in the special court. On these grounds, the accused must be granted bail.

It was also argued that section 33 of the POCSO act clearly says that the challan must be presented in the special court only. Cases involving POCSO act do not fall under the jurisdiction of the area magistrate or a civil judge. They are tried at the special court for crimes against women and children. The police had field the challan in the court of the area magistrate in this case.

The matter dates back to October 27, 2017 when father of 16 year old victim approached the sector 36 police station and complained that his daughter did not return home from her college. He doubted that Ramdarbar resident Kamal Joshi and two of his friends were involved in the matter. The police registered a case of kidnapping and later arrested Kamal Joshi, Suresh Kumar and Shankar on October 30.

The minor was also recovered from their possession. The victim in her statement to the police had said she was kidnapped by the accused and was later raped by Kamal. The police had then added sections 4 and 6 of the POCSO act in the FIR.

Earlier embarrassment

The main accused in the JBT recruitment scam Mithilesh and the co-accused

Shailesh Kumar

and

Shiv Bahadur

were granted bail by the Chandigarh district court as police failed to file the chargesheet against them within 90 days of arrest.