Kolkata, Sep 24 (IANS) The West Bengal government on Wednesday told the Calcutta High Court that it has taken strict action against a woman police officer accused of taking a bribe.

An FIR has been registered against the female officer of Tarakeswar police station in Hooghly district under the Prevention of Corruption Act, and an investigation into the incident has also been started by an officer of the rank of a DSP, the government said.

The move came after the High Court earlier questioned why the woman officer should not be investigated under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The case was being heard by the division bench of Justices Debangsu Basak and Md Shabbar Rashidi. After hearing the state’s submission on Wednesday, the court said such action should have been taken earlier, as the officer herself admitted to demanding a bribe. It observed that only issuing a show-cause notice was not the right action. The case will be heard again on Thursday.

On September 19, West Bengal Police faced the ire of the division bench for allegedly not initiating any disciplinary action against the woman officer, accused of demanding a bribe from a citizen.

The division bench of Justices Basak and Rashidi also questioned why the police department had not initiated proceedings against the accused cop under the Prevention of Corruption Act, and why it had not registered any FIR against her.

It noted that although the woman officer had been issued a show-cause notice by her department based on the complaint accusing her of demanding a bribe from a citizen, the “bribe” matter was not mentioned in the related document.

While submitting his arguments, the state government counsel said that, besides issuing the show-cause notice, the accused woman officer had also been suspended and a department probe had been initiated against her on September 17.

In the show-cause notice, she had also been asked to clarify why her services should not be terminated on the grounds of demanding a bribe from a citizen, the counsel said.

She has also been charged by her department with negligence and dereliction of duty, the court was told.

However, the division bench dismissed this last point of argument, observing that what the accused cop had done was not simple negligence and dereliction towards duty, but a breach of trust as a police officer to the entire society.

Thereafter, the division bench directed the state government to explain its final stand to the court in the matter by September 22.

According to sources, an engineer named Biltu Hazra had a dispute with his neighbour in Tarakeswar of Hooghly district. Biltu filed a complaint at the Tarakeswar police station. He claimed that the police did not take any action despite receiving the complaint. On the contrary, Hazra alleged that he himself was framed in a false case. He came to know that the police were behind it. Later, an audio recording of the investigating officer of the police station came to light. It is heard that the female officer of the Tarakeswar police station is saying that she took a huge bribe.

The engineer approached the Calcutta High Court regarding this. Initially, the case was pending in a single bench. Later, it came to the division bench.

–IANS

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