I was humiliated, says the then JMFC

CUTTACK: “I was slapped, dragged to the police station and humiliated despite identifying myself as a judicial officer,” the then Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC), Rourkela, Arun Kumar Patnaik told the Justice AS Naidu Commission here on Sunday. The Commission is inquiring into the alleged assault on the judicial officer by police on April 2 last year. Arun was cross-examined by the counsels of the inspector in-charge (IIC) S Pujari and the then SP Diptesh Patnaik. Recounting the incident, Arun stated that at about 11.20 pm on the fateful night, he was talking to his fiancee over phone when a bike-borne person approached him. The person was donning a red T-shirt. He asked Arun why he was talking on phone to which the latter replied was there any problem in that. Infuriated, the person, who appeared to be IIC Pujari, slapped him on his left cheek and virtually dragged him to the Udit Nagar Police Station, the then JMFC deposed. Even though he identified himself as a judicial officer, he was not spared.  Arun further stated that in the police station too no respect was shown to him befitting a judicial officer. He also tried to lodge an FIR against the action of the IIC but it was not accepted. Instead, he was pressured to agree to a compromise. He then called up the SP and intimated him about the incident. The SP also did not take any action, rather advised him to go for the compromise. As he did not give in, the FIR was finally accepted and he left the police station at about 4 am, Arun submitted in his statement. The counsels, appearing for the SP and the IIC, cross-examined the then JMFC for about two hours on issues like timing of the incident and lodging of the FIR. They also asked about allotment of quarters where he was staying. They also went on to find discrepancies in his affidavit and the FIR lodged by him stating that some facts as put in the affidavit had not been mentioned in the FIR. The Commission has posted the next sitting to March 24. Subhasmita Satpathy, wife and the then fiancee of JMFC Patnaik, along with paternal uncle Bijay Kumar Patnaik had been examined by the Commission on Saturday.