Kochi: A day after the cops registered “non-bailable” charges against online cabbie T.A. Shafeeq based on the complaint of three women who were earlier booked with “minor charges” for allegedly brutally assaulting him, P. Vijayan, the inspector general of police, Kochi Range, has launched an independent probe into the episode. “The assistant commissioner of the Special Branch has been directed to file a detailed report on the alleged miscarriage of justice by lodging a case against the victim and also the reported lapses in booking the accused women with stringent charges,” the officer said. The Kochi Range IG took the action following reports that the cops were trying to protect the three women even as the witness accounts and CCTV grabs form a “strong evidence” of their attacking the driver with a stone.
The incident happened on Wednesday last when the three women, who availed an online share taxi allegedly attacked Shafeeq after they insisted the passenger who boarded before them be made to alight. Passers-by intervened in the matter and handed over the three accused Angel Baby, 36, Clara Shibin, 27, and Sheeja M., 30, to the police. The Maradu police lodged only minor charges against them and released them on station bail. Meanwhile, with the police booking him with charges under IPC Section 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), the Uber driver is planning to move court for “justice”.
“He is shattered by the police action and plans to move the court and the rights panel. Here he is the victim, but the cops have now made him an ‘accused’. The Youth Congress will stage a protest march to the Commissioner’s Office on Wednesday,” said Sherin Varghese, Youth Congress state secretary, and the driver’s neighbour. Meanwhile, the Maradu police termed the lodging of the case against Shafeeq as a “mere formality”. “The women too filed a complaint and we’ve to register the case. Probe is acting on both complaints and we will file the chargesheet later this week,” said an investigating officer.
Curious case of Uber driver being booked
While legal compulsions could be cited by the police as justification for slapping sexual assault case against the taxi driver roughed up by women in Kochi, his arrest in the non-bailable case is unlikely. According to top police sources, it was not mandatory to arrest a person even as a non-bailable case is registered. It is the discretion of the investigation officer whether to arrest him or not.
The police registered a case against the taxi driver under legal compulsion as the Criminal Law Amendment of 2013, even warranted stringent punishment, including sentence to police officials who refuse to register a case when it comes to sexual assault. It was in the wake of widespread allegations of police hushing up complaints of sexual assault that such an amendment was brought in.
“Registering a case and taking first-information-report does not mean that a person is implicated. Afterwards the police could close the case by submitting a refer report at the court if the allegation was proved to be false in the investigation. It is not even mandatory to arrest a person even as a case invoking non-bailable offences is taken. It is the sole discretion of the investigation officer,” a senior IPS officer said. Meanwhile, legal sources said that there was even provision to initiate legal action against women who lodge fake sexual assault petition against men. It was only in complaints of domestic violence that the courts had cautioned the police to verify prima facie genuineness of complaints.
