Delhi HC questions cut in cop’s salary

New Delhi: The Delhi high court on Thursday asked the Delhi police how it decided to deduct salary of one of its officers, accused in a custodial death case, for paying compensation to victim’s kin without ascertaining if he was the erring official.

The court noted that the NHRC in May last year had directed that Rs 5 lakh compensation be paid to kin of the victim who died in 2010 due to custodial violence and the MHA had said the amount be deducted from the salary of the “erring officers”.

“How did you (Delhi police) identify the erring officers? Did anyone conduct an inquiry as to who has to pay the compensation? Who has determined who is the erring officer? On what basis you determined the petitioner (accused cop) is the erring officer,” Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva asked the police.

The lawyer for the Delhi police said that the accused was the SHO of the police station where the incident occurred and an FIR had been lodged against him for the same. Hence, the amount was deducted from his salary starting from December 2016, the counsel said. The court, however, did not accept this argument and asked the lawyer for the police to file an affidavit within 10 days as to whether any inquiry was carried out, subsequent to MHA’s direction, to determine who was the erring officer and listed January 30 as the next date of hearing.

The petitioner, Inderjeet Singh, has challenged deduction of Rs 12,500 per month from his pay towards the compensation amount paid to the victim’s kin.

He has claimed he was never given a hearing before taking such a step.