Case of trade union leader being threatened, George Town court orders police probe

Chennai: Dismissing chargesheet filed by inspector, Chennai Central railway station police station, in a case against an official of Southern Railway on charges of threatening a woman trade union leader, the XVI metropolitan magistrate, George Town court, has directed police to conduct the probe.

In the complaint, S. Jayashree, assistant secretary, on April 19, 2007, submitted that a group of railway staff went to meet commercial manager, Southern Railway Ajit Saxena in connection with holding Railway Week celebration and distribution of prize after the event. Saxena reportedly abused them. Based on their complaint, Jayashree, along with other staff, Isabella Rani, Sunderrajan, Maran, Devaraj and Sathyakala, went to meet Saxena in his office on the next day to settle the dispute.

Saxena allegedly abused Jayashree with filthy language and threatened her with a pistol. Based on her compliant CCRS police station registered a case against Saxena under section 342, 297, 506 (ii) of IPC read with section 25 of Indian Arms Act. As the investigation was not conducted for nearly a decade, a complaint was filed before the Madras high court. The Madras HC, in an order dated April 11, 2016, ordered the police to take up the investigation and file chargesheet before trial court. Following this, the inspector filed the chargesheet before XVI metropolitan magistrate court, George Town.

Challenging this, Jayashree filed a protest petition alleging that inspector attempted to close the case without conducting the investigation properly. Jayashree also sought for further investigation. On perusing the charge sheet, XVI metropolitan magistrate, Gajara R. Jiji said inspector had not served notice to Jayashree, which is not acceptable and this is a lacuna on the part of the investigating officer. The magistrate also suspected statements obtained from witnesses. The magistrate also questioned how Inspector obtained pistol licence of Saxena even though he had not met the accused.

Hence, for all reasons mentioned, the court, does not find the report acceptable. Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, this court is not inclined to accept the negative report filed by the police. The protest petition filed by Jayashree has been treated as a private complaint and further proceedings will ensue, the magistrate added.