ACJM shifted for making cop undress in UP court

Prayagraj, July 28 (IANS) The Registrar General of the Allahabad High Court has transferred Santosh Kumar Yadav, an Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) for stripping a driver constable in the court room just because he failed to give pass to his car while he was on the way to the court. The ACJM has been sent to Mahoba district.

The 58-year-old constable driver of Agra Police, Ghure Lal, who had served in the force for 38 years, was allegedly forced by the ACJM to take off his khaki uniform and stand in the court room for over half an hour.

After the incident, Constable Ghure Lal met Senior Superintendent of Police, Agra and gave his letter for voluntarily retirement citing trauma due to humiliation in court by the sitting judge on Friday morning.

Taking cognisance of the incident on Saturday, Uttar Pradesh - Director General of Police, Om Prakash Singh on the UP Police Twitter handle stated: "We have taken the issue of ordering a Constable in uniform to disrobe in a court very seriously and taken it up at the appropriate level. We stand by the dignity of each and every police personnel and appeal to all the sections of society to respect the honour of uniformed forces."

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Agra, Babloo Kumar said: "Constable driver Ghure Lal had alleged, that he was humiliated in court by a sitting judge who forced him to take off the uniform including beret, belt and khaki shirt, as punishment for not giving pass to the ACJM's car. He was made to stand for half an hour in the court."

According to police, Constable Ghure Lal was ferrying two undertrials along with three cops (Constables Alok Bharti, Manish Kumar and Rajesh Kumar) to court in a police van when the incident took place.

"Just 100 meter before the court, a car with the Magistrate blew horn and siren to the police van driven by Ghure Lal to give pass. Since the road towards the court is single lane, Ghure Lal failed to provide pass. After reaching the court, the enraged ACJM asked Ghure Lal to appear in his courtroom, where he was reprimanded and ordered to take off the uniform," said a police officer.

A complaint in this regard was sent to the District Judge of Agra Ajay Kumar Srivastava, Registrar General of the Allahabad High Court Mayank Kumar Jain, and High Court Judge who holds administrative judge chairship, Munishwar Nath Bhandari.