"The court has reason to believe that the ACP is in ignorance of the rules." (Representational)
A Gurugram court ordered the police commissioner to take action against an ACP for not saluting the judge properly during a court appearance. The investigation in the case has been handed over to DCP (west) Karan Goel, police said on Wednesday.
According to the police, ACP Naveen Sharma and his team had gone to the court of judicial magistrate (first class) Vikrant to produce an accused in connection with a fraud case.
Police said the court passed an order in the case, which also mentioned the ACP's salute, and ordered that the police commissioner take action on the matter, they added.
"As soon as the order was passed, the investigating officer ACP Naveen saluted the Chair in improper manner by just raising his arm and touching two fingers on forehead.
On being asked about the salute, the officer said he has "learnt three kinds of salutes i.e just raising the elbow, touching the forehead and then the proper salute, the order read.
"He, however, then immediately realised that the court is not a place to crack jokes and then made an excuse that he was wearing a tight shirt and he was not comfortable in saluting the Chair," it said.
The conduct of ACP who was inducted into Haryana Police in 2010 is against the protocol and rules, the court said.
The court also added that as per rule, every police officer "entering a court of law in uniform, while such court is in session, shall salute the court, irrespective of the rank or status of the judicial officer presiding in such court for the time being."
"The court has reason to believe that ACP Naveen Sharma is in ignorance of the rules which govern his service. He needs to be trained properly making him aware of the rules and protocol," it said.
The order also directed the police commissioner to take action against the officer under the Punjab Police Rules and submit a report within a period of one week.
DCP Goel who is in-charge of the investigation said the matter is being probed and a report will be submitted to the court soon.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)