Dr Sabal Jana (right) is now planning to meet senior police officials and write to Chief Minister to Raman Singh seeking justice.
Dr Sabal Jana, in his 50s, is a general physician. He has spent over three decades now treating poor tribals in Dalli Rajhara. That has earned him respect in the area. But, last month, Dr Jana was handcuffed and taken to jail in a 24-year-old case. The incident has left him feeling humiliated, he says.
Dr Jana surrendered in a district court in Durg on March 16 and he was sent to judicial custody. He spent 10 days in jail before being released on bail on March 26. It was only in January, he claims, he got to know he had been declared missing by the court while he has been around all along, working among people in the small town. So, he went to court and surrendered.
"When I surrendered I was handcuffed despite my friends requesting them not to. It was humiliating," he told NDTV. "This is a lapse on part of the police and the administration. But I will continue to work here."
The police had booked Dr Jana and 57 others in 1992 for preventing police officials from performing their duties during a workers' union protest and attacking them at the Bhillai Power house area.
Dr Jana claims he was not a part of the agitation but only provided medical care along with his pregnant wife to the injured when workers and police allegedly clashed.
For 24 years, he says, no police official approached him in the case and suddenly, he was declared missing. He wants responsibility to be fixed.
Dr Jana is now planning to meet senior police officials and write to Chief Minister to Raman Singh seeking justice.
But the public prosecutor in the case says that Dr Jana is lying. Deepak Tiwari, Public Prosecutor says,"(The) SHO of Bhatta police station had told me that Dr Jana's lawyer had filed for an interim bail which was rejected by court. This happened a few years after the incident. A warrant was issued in 1992... Making such claims is wrong."
Dr Jana says he did not engage a lawyer. The workers' union which clashed with the police moved an application on his behalf.