"Astounding": High Court Pulls Up Bengal Cops For FIR Against NIA Officers

Days after a National Investigation Agency (NIA) team faced stiff resistance during a raid in West Bengal, the Calcutta High Court today pulled up the state police over an FIR it filed against an officer of the central probe agency.

An NIA team was at Bhupatinagar in Bengal's Purba Medinipur district on Saturday during a raid in connection with a 2022 blast when it faced resistance from local residents. The blast in question had left three people dead.

Following the face-off, a woman filed a complaint with the state police, accusing the NIA team of breaking into her house and assaulting her husband. She also alleged that the NIA officials and the CRPF personnel with them had verbally abused her and assaulted her when she tried to defend him.

On the basis of the complaint, police registered an FIR under several Indian Penal Code sections, including those related to causing grievous hurt and use of criminal force against a woman intending to outrage her modesty.

It appears that NIA officials went to conduct a raid strictly in terms of the law, the high court said, adding that the law does not require the NIA to take permission from state police.

What strikes a discordant note on the actions taken by the state police in the counter FIR, the court said, is that the medical report mentions only minor scratches and pain and does not mention grievous hurt. "It is astounding that FIR was registered under Section 325 by the state police," the court said. Section 325 relates to voluntarily causing grievous hurt and if convicted, an accused shall be punished with imprisonment that may extend to seven years.

Noting that the matter needs to be heard at length, the court asked state police to submit the case diary and listed the case for April 29.

The court said the state police cannot arrest the accused till the next hearing and shall not file any final report in the meantime.

The accused NIA officers, it said, can be questioned via video conference after a 72-hour notice. The videography of such interrogation shall be retained, it added.

Bengal police had earlier summoned two NIA officers in connection with the case. They had been asked to appear before the police as witnesses for the investigation. An NIA officer injured in the face-off had been asked to come with his medical records and the car that was allegedly attacked for forensic examination.