A challan of ₹500 issued to a automobile of a judicial officer in Motihari, East Champaran, allegedly for parking it in a restricted space has snowballed into an issue, with the Bihar Judicial Service Affiliation (BJSA) writing to the Director Common of Police (DGP), Bihar, that it was executed “wrongly on the basis of a social media post, while the vehicle was elsewhere”.
The railway signboard close to the Motihari Civil Court docket
The judges have been ostensibly irked by the native media protection of “fine on a judicial officer” by headlines as “police ne padhaya judge ko kanoon ka paath”.
The BJSA has sought an intensive probe into the matter.
“While the association upholds the rule of law and condemns any misconduct by judicial officers, the circumstances surrounding this case raise serious concerns. The timing and location mentioned in the challan do not align with the actual location of the judicial officer’s vehicle, which is equipped with GPS. It appears the Superintendent of Police acted hastily, administering the fine solely on a social media post featuring a still photograph, which could have been altered or doctored. This decision was made without verifying the accuracy of the post, which is a crucial error,” says the letter from the affiliation secretary Ajit Kumar Singh, who can also be the district and classes choose, Gaya.
The letter says that “the source of the controversy was a Facebook post that not only challenged Motihari Police to impose a fine on the judicial officer’s vehicle, but also included derogatory remarks about judges from Uttar Pradesh, and specifically criticized the officer for allegedly violating the law”.
“Instead of dismissing the inflammatory content, Motihari Police reacted inappropriately and hastily imposed a fine based solely on this unverified media post. Furthermore, it is perplexing that the incident was portrayed in various media outlets as an act of valour by the Motihari Police. The Superintendent of Police, Mr. Swarn Parbhat, was shown as having “taught a lesson to the judicial officer,” with some stories even suggesting he had consulted with the Principal District & Periods Decide of Champaran earlier than issuing the wonderful,” the letter says.
The secretary has written that “imposing a fine under the Motor Vehicle Act based on a social media post containing still photograph of vehicle without verification is highly inappropriate and seems to be aimed at gaining publicity and projecting the SP as supercop”.
On April 10, the site visitors police had issued a challan of ₹500 in opposition to a judicial Justice of the Peace’s automobile that was wrongly parked on the principle street in Motihari city of East Champaran district. The motion was taken after somebody took a photograph of the automobile with its quantity and posted it on a social media website, tagging Motihari police.
Taking cognizance of this put up, superintendent of police (SP), Swarn Prabhat, talked to the district and classes choose, Devraj Tripathi, and ordered the issuance of a challan in opposition to the automobile. The automobile was parked on the principle street wrongly, and inflicting a whole lot of issues for commuters and pedestrians. “As soon as this matter came to my notice, I contacted the district judge of Motihari, and after this, a challan was issued against the car,” he mentioned.
The SP, nevertheless, clarified that the automobile belonged to the judicial Justice of the Peace, however its driver had parked it within the no-parking space, violating the site visitors guidelines.