Cop irks HC by telling 90 year old Satara woman to make appearance

The gaffe by a police officer in Satara compelled a 90-year-old woman to appear in front of the Bombay high court. The judges were so infuriated by the officer’s actions that they asked Satara district superintendent of police (SP) to initiate departmental action against him.

A division bench of Justice Naresh Patil and Justice Prakash Naik was hearing a habeas corpus petition filed by Sulochana Madhukar Shinde who had stated in the petition that her stepbrother Ankush Bhauke had forced her nonagenarian mother, Babubai Bhauke, to stay with him at Karad in Satara district of Maharashtra because she has an acre of land on her name.

Ms Shinde feared that her brother would usurp the land.

After hearing this, court had asked the additional public prosecutor (APP) to inform the Karad police station and ask them to send an officer from the police station to visit Bhauke.

This was to ascertain if the allegations made by Ms Shinde were true and record Babubai’s statement and submit the same before the high court.

Accordingly, police naik N.K. Kamble of Karad police station visited Bhauke’s house and wrongly informed them that Babubai was to remain present before the high court on a particular date at 10 am. The Bombay high court was irked when it came to know that the Karad police wrongly passed the message to the respondent and because of this mistake the woman had to remain present in the court.

“We never call such old people to the high court. Our direction was clear that a police officer had to visit the place and confirm whether she had been forcefully kept with the respondent or not and report the same in the court,” said the high court.

Thereafter, the court directed the SP of Satara to get an explanation from Kamble, who had issued the communication.

The high court also said it is was surprising that none of the officers from police station concerned were present when the matter was being heard and sought an explanation in this regard.

The court disposed of the petition when the public prosecutor, after discussing the matter with the senior citizen, said that she was not being forced to stay with the respondent.