Mohali: SHO acquitted of not filing FIR on rape survivor’s complaint

MOHALI: Inspector Daljeet Singh who was accused of not registering an FIR following the complaint of a rape survivor in April 2019 was acquitted by a local court here on Monday.
Daljeet was serving as the SHO of Sohana police station when a 22-year-old woman, who was allegedly raped in a taxi, was forced to visit two police stations to lodge her complaint as SHOs bickered over jurisdiction.Later, he was suspended. The case was registered two days after the crime.
According to defence counsel H S Dhanoa, they produced evidence that the rape survivor did not meet the SHO when she visited the police station and the SIT constituted by the SSP failed to give any concrete evidence against the SHO.
“We contested the evidence against the SHO and proved that he had no role to play in the case as he was not present in the police station when the rape survivor approached the police. Also, she never met the SHO, as it was evident in CCTV footage. So, the court discharged the SHO for want of evidence.”
The woman was allegedly raped by a cab driver in Mohali in April 2019. The accused took her to an open ground located opposite a government building and raped her, police had said. Then he took her to an abandoned place near a village that comes under the jurisdiction of Sohana police. After reaching here, the accused again tried to rape her, but the woman somehow managed to flee and called up Mohali police control room.
The allegations were that the control room further informed inspector Daljeet Singh. However, he did not go to the spot for investigation. Instead, he sent a junior-level cop. After reaching the spot, the cop verified the crime. Later, the Sohana police concluded the woman was picked up from Phase VIII jurisdiction and asked her to go to that police station to lodge the complaint.
When she went there, cops did not entertain her complaint. They told her that since the incident took place in the area of Sohana police’s jurisdiction, she should go there. Despite doing so, the case was still not registered. Later, she went to her house. Meanwhile, the next day senior officers came to know about the fight over jurisdiction. Senior officers found that the woman was raped in Sohana police’s jurisdiction. Later, SHO Daljeet Singh was suspended and a case of rape was registered at Sohana police station.
(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme court directives on cases related to sexual assault)