GANDHINAGAR; Four of the five police officers and a Mamlatdar sentenced to prison terms about three years back for manhandling the then Chief Judicial Magistrate of Nadiad N.L-Patel, have been reinstated. Those reinstated include Inspector S.R .Sharma, Sub-inspector K.H. Sadia, Head Constable Valjibhal Kalajibhal, Constable Pratap Singh and in-charge of police stores Mamlatdar M.S.Savant, The then District Superintendent of Police of Nadiad district is, however, yet to be reinstated. According to police sources, departmental proceedings are going on against him and if he is cleared, he will also be reinstated, The reinstatement orders were given by the State Home Department when Gujarat Chief Minister Chiman bhai Patel was also holding charge of the home portfolio. Following the merger of the regional outfit the Janata Dal Gujarat into the Congress, C.D. Patel, former leader of the Congress Legislature Party has now become the Home Minister,

Following the Home Department decision, orders to reinstate the police officers and men were issued by the Gujarat Director General of Police Ashok Tandon,

Tandon told The Pioneer that the police officers had been reinstated since they had already been punished by the Supreme Court for The Supreme Court in its verdict delivered on Sept.11,1991, had made a historic Pronounce men; declaring itself the protector of the entire judiciary and sent to jail six police officers and men, including the Superintendent of Police, Kaira, for their inhuman treatment of Patel.

The 114-page verdict was delivered by a three-judge bench comprising Justice K.N. Singh, Justice Kuldip Singh and Justice

M.M. Kasliwal. The court had delivered the verdict disposing off a batch of petition seeking server action against the police officer who made patel drink liquor at the police station and then tied him with a rope and parade him on the streets of Nadiad on sept.25 1989.

Though the court had quashed the criminal proceeding pending’s against the chief judicial magistrate saying that the criminal cases against him were cooked up the conduct of the patel for visiting the nadiad police station on the invitation of the SHO.

Article extracted from this publication >> July 3, 1992