HC seeks report on CAT judge assault

RANCHI: The Jharkhand high court on Monday sought status report of the case lodged against senior IPS officer Nirmala Choudhary for assaulting a judge of Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT).
A division bench of the high court comprising acting Chief Justice Prakash Tatia and Justice Jaya Roy had taken a suo motu cognizance of the assault on the judge and wanted to know about the status of the FIR lodged at Doranda police station.
The court asked the state government about the status of the case and whether any departmental proceedings had been ordered against the IPS officer or not. It also sought the reply of the state in the next hearing scheduled for June 27.
Choudhary was recently sentenced to a simple imprisonment for 15 days by the Ranchi bench of the CAT for assaulting judge B V Rao. The 1983 batch IPS officer is currently posted as IG (vigilance) in the Jharkhand State Electricity Board. Rao filed the complaint at the CAT in 2008 and an FIR was lodged against Choudhary and her eight bodyguards at Doranda police station.
Rao had accused her of ordering the security personnel to assault him at Khukri Guest House during his stay in the city for a hearing of cases at the CAT Ranchi bench in 2008. Choudhary was also staying in the guest house at that time.
The Supreme Court had directed the Ranchi bench of CAT to conduct trial of criminal intimidation against Choudhary.