Give details of FIRs against police officers, explain why they should continue in service: Punjab and Haryana High Court to State

On Wednesday, the Punjab and Haryana High Court sought the details of FIRs registered against serving police officers of all ranks in the State of Punjab including the nature of the case (Surjit v. State of Punjab)..The Bench of Justice Anupinder Singh Grewal directed the Additional Chief Secretary to file an affidavit with the following details:FIRs registered against serving police officers at all ranks in Punjab;The nature of offences and status, along with the officers’ current posting.Number of officers continuing in service post-conviction by a court of lawThe rationale in reinstating or allowing such accused/convicted officers to continue in service..Pursuant to the Court's earlier directions, the Deputy Secretary of the Department of Home Affairs and Justice had submitted an affidavit stating that there were 1,326 officers who had cases pending against them..To this, the counsel for the petitioner, Advocate Balbir Kumar Saini contended that the Department had not been forthcoming and that there were several other police officers facing criminal cases, some of them continuing in service even after conviction..The Single Bench has now asked the State, through its home secretary, to specify the current posting of such officers..The Bench was hearing the plea by a police officer who had challenged an order dismissing him from service upon an FIR being registered against him. The dismissal order did not take into consideration an order passed by the Inspector General of Police, whereby the petitioner had been reinstated in service after registration of FIR against him, the petitioner argued..In the course of his submissions, his counsel argued that there were a large number of police officers in the State of Punjab who are continuing in service despite registration of criminal cases against them..It was in this context the High Court directed the State Government to place on record the details of FIRs against serving police officers at all ranks..Additional Advocate General HS Grewal appeared for the State of Punjab..The matter is expected to be taken up on November 16..Read the Order: