DGP and Home secretary made respondents in Nainital Panchayat poll PIL
HC expresses concern at criminal actions during Panchayat polls, law and order situation
PIONEEREDGE NEWS SERVICE | Nainital
The Uttarakhand High Court has made the director general of police and the Home secretary respondents in the public interest litigation regarding the criminal actions which reportedly took place during the Nainital district Panchayat election on August 14. Taking suo motto cognisance of the matter, the HC took it up in the form of a PIL which will be heard next on August 22.
Hearing the PIL on Tuesday, the bench of chief justice G Narendar and justice Subhash Upadhyaya directed the Home secretary to appear in court via video conferencing. The court also expressed concern at the incidents which occurred during the Panchayat elections in Udham Singh Nagar and Betalghat, stating that such incidents occurring in Devbhumi Uttarakhand raise questions at the law and order situation. The Nainital senior superintendent of police Prahlad Narayan Meena was present in court while district magistrate Vandana Singh was also present via video link during the hearing on Tuesday.
It will be recalled that during the hearing on Monday, the HC had viewed the various videos of the incident in question showing men in raincoats dragging away five Nainital district Panchayat members on the day of voting for the post of the district Panchayat president. The court had pulled up the SSP and observed that the incidents as seen in videos gone viral on social media raise questions at the law and order situation.Meanwhile, the SSP informed the court on Tuesday that a sub inspector had been suspended for negligence on duty.
He said that the suspects involved in the incident had arrived in a red car on August 13 and hailed from Rampur, Udham Singh Nagar, Haldwani and Nainital. The car is currently with the police though it will take some time to ascertain detailed information about the persons in question, he said.
