Court Takes Action Against Kadma Police SHO for Failing to Produce Witnesses in 2019 Assault Case

Mail News Service

Jamshedpur, Oct 4: The court has taken serious action against the Station House Officer (SHO) of Kadma police station in Jamshedpur after he failed to respond to multiple show-cause notices. This comes in connection with a 2019 assault case where no witnesses have appeared in court for the past five years. Despite repeated court orders to present the witnesses, the SHO did not comply.

The case, under the purview of ADJ-2 Aabhas Verma, involves an incident during Saraswati Puja in 2019. Avinash Upadhyay, the informant, had filed an FIR at Kadma police station stating that he was attacked by a group led by Stephen Francis, Sujit Pandey, and others. Upadhyay, along with his friend Kunal Sao, was allegedly surrounded and attacked with weapons, leaving him seriously injured. A chargesheet was later filed naming Stephen Francis, Ashish Kumar Jha, and Mihir Mukherjee as the accused.

The court had repeatedly instructed the SHO to present witnesses, including Avinash Upadhyay, Kunal Sao, and others, but no progress was made. The SHO was issued a show-cause notice and asked to appear in court, yet neither a reply was submitted nor did he appear.

In response, the court has now written to the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), ordering the suspension of the SHO’s salary until compliance is ensured. The lack of witness testimonies has caused significant delays, with the case lingering for years without resolution. This decisive move by the court highlights the seriousness of the situation and aims to prompt action in the long-pending case.