Suspended cop booked for diluting FIR, faces arrest

The suspended inspector of Pulikeshinagar police station, Mohammad Rafique, has been booked for non-recording of First Information Report (FIR) in relation to the sexual offences as complained by the rape victim. The offence is non-bailable and the officer’s arrest is imminent. 

This is for the first time that a police officer in the State has been booked under section 166 (A) of the Indian Penal Code, which was amended after the Nirbhaya incident. 

On Thursday morning, Home Minister K J George held a meeting with senior police officers and the Director of Prosecutions and Government Litigation. A senior officer, who attended the meeting, said that the issue of invoking the newly added provision in section 166 of the IPC was discussed.

 “The section was never invoked in the State in cases of rape and other sexual assaults. It was also discussed to take steps to ensure that the provision is not misused. In the present case, however, since the inspector was insensitive, it was decided to book him under the newly added section,” the officer said, wishing anonymity. 

Suo motu notice

“We took a suo motu notice of the incident and filed an FIR under section 166 (a) of the IPC late on Thursday night,” said DCP (East) Satish Kumar N. 

It is a non-bailable offence and the police will arrest Mohammad Rafique shortly, he said. 

As per the amended provision, non- recording of FIR in relation to sexual offences is a punishable offence. The punishment, if convicted, is simple imprisonment up to one year or fine or both. 

“An FIR is just the first step. Unless the delinquent police officer is swiftly tried in such cases and convicted for a full term of one year, police officers across the State will continue to chase off rape victims, humiliate, browbeat or intimidate them.

 It is also necessary to note that a charge under section 166(A), if true, is extremely easy to prove in a court of law and ideally, the State government should take no more than a few weeks to subject such a delinquent police officer to trial and to secure his conviction,” Supreme Court advocate K V Dhananjay said.