Lokayukta for action against two officers

The Haryana Lokayukta has recommended action against former deputy commissioner of Kaithal and superintendent of police of Jind, in a case pertaining to death of a 26-year-old labourer about four years ago.

In his recent order, the Lokayukta justice Pritam Pal (retd), also termed the conduct of the then Kaithal DC Amneet P Kumar, SHO, civil lines, Kaithal and SHO, police station village Garhi in Jind, which was headed by B Satish Balan, an IPS officer, as “highly unbecoming of responsible civil servants” and wrote to government for appropriate action against them in accordance with law and send an action taken report to the Lokayukta office within three months.

The case pertains to a mishap which occurred on March 26, 2010, when a labourer, Suresh Kumar, sustained serious injuries while off-loading stone slabs from a truck in Pipaltha (Jind) and was first rushed to general hospital, Kaithal. However, when he was not properly treated there, he was rushed to the PGI, Chandigarh, where he died on November 24, 2010.

In the meanwhile, running from pillar to post in Jind and Kaithal for over eight months, the mother of the deceased, Ram Rati and his brother Ramesh Kumar, seeking financial assistance for Suresh’s treatment, and other relatives held a protest in front of Kaithal DC where they were arrested for threatening to end life (section 309 IPC) and as preventive arrest (151 CrPC).

Ram Rati and Ramesh, along with Dharam Pal, Ramdia, Pale Ram and Desh Raj were given bail after six days. Later, the false case against them was cancelled, justice Pal held.

The Lokayukta who had got the matter probed into by the Lokayukta’s registrar and the DGP (CID), besides other documentary evidence, also recommended that the six persons detained illegally be given Rs 30,000 each as compensation.