IAS officer's wife's rape: Court orders action against cops for mishandling probe

The High Court overturned a lower court's decision to grant bail to the accused. The court observed that serious charges against the accused were replaced with milder ones despite the grave nature of the crime.

In Short

• Found "glaring negligence" by the investigation team, court observes
• Orders transfer of case to Deputy Commissioner level official
• Overturns bail granted to accused by lower court

The Calcutta High Court has directed the Kolkata Police Commissioner to initiate departmental proceedings against three top police officers for "mishandling" the preliminary probe into the alleged rape of an IAS officer's wife.

Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj stated that he found "glaring negligence" by the investigating team. He said that the case was assigned to a male officer against the law and the severe charges were replaced with mild clauses, which paved the way for the accused's initial bail by a lower court. However, the High Court has overturned the lower court's decision and has rejected the accused's bail.

The court also ordered the transfer of the investigation to a Deputy Commissioner level official.

The incident took place on July 14 and 15. The victim has claimed that the accused entered her home around 11.30 pm and raped her at gunpoint. She further claimed that she was made to wait to file an FIR against the accused and that minor charges were levelled against the accused despite the grave nature of the crime.

The woman claimed she was pressured to withdraw her complaint by the accused's wife and her son. She stated that the police refused to take the CCTV footage which showed the accused entering her house.

Justice Bharadwaj observed that the FIR filed against the accused undermined the seriousness of the sexual assault allegation. He ordered a fresh investigation into the matter, and has asked for action to be taken against the three police officials.

The High Court directed the current investigation officer to hand over all documents and case diary to the deputy commissioner within three days.

Following the HC directive, the investigation has been transferred to the Women's Police Station and the Divisional Deputy Commissioner (DC) has been asked to monitor the case.