Kasauli
Officer Murder : A Challenge To The Rule Of Law
By Jag Mohan Thaken From Chandigarh
The murder of an officer on official duty during compliance of Supreme Court orders at Kasauli
, Himachal Pradesh ,allegedly by a guest
house owner , has irked the Supreme Court deeply and the court has expressed its annoyance
over the matter of non-implementation of the law by the state authorities .
“The death is not a result of the court’s order. It is a
result of the non-implementation of the law. The incident is very unfortunate.
You have to ensure rule of law and implementation of law related to
unauthorised constructions,” the Bench told the counsel appearing for the
State.
Strongly pulling up
the Himachal Government authorities
for failure to ensure safety of officers implementing its orders, the Supreme
Court on Thursday ordered the state government to file an affidavit by May 9
giving the detailed progress in investigation into the murder of a woman
official who was allegedly shot dead by a guest house owner during a court-ordered
demolition drive in Kasauli on Tuesday .
She was doing her duty with calm and honesty to comply
with the orders of the Supreme Court . The top court , on April 17, had ordered
the Himachal Pradesh state government to
demolish unauthorisedly raised
structures in several hotels and guest houses in Kasauli and Dharampur
areas of Solan district. Four teams of the officials for the purpose were constituted and Shail
Bala Sharma, an Assistant Town Planning Officer, was heading one such team .
After a short hot argument with the lady
officer on Tuesday , Vijay Singh , the owner of Narayani Guest House at Kasauli
allegedly shot her dead and succeeded in fleeing from the scene
despite the presence of the police .
A double bench comprising Justices Madan B Lokur and
Deepak Gupta ,
pulling up the state government , on Thursday, has sought
the status of probe into the killing of
the Assistant Town Planning Officer during a court-ordered
anti-encroachment drive and directed the state government to ensure the
safety of the officials conducting the
drive .The Bench headed by the Justice Madan B Lokur, had ,on Tuesday , taken cognizance of the
murder of Asssistant Town Planning Officer Shail Bala .
The latest information reveals that the absconder Vijay
Singh has been arrested by the police on Thursday .The police had announced a
reward of Rs. 1 lakh for the informers giving clue of the person who killed the
officer .
Why the Kasauli ,a
tourist place liked for its
peaceful winds and old heritage buildings, have suddenly turned into a tornado
of murder ?This planned or unplanned murder raises some questions. Despite the
presence of heavy police force , how the alleged murderer stopped the officer to do her official duty ?
How he dared to fire the shots resulting the death of the lady officer ? And how he succeeded in fleeing easily after
the murder ? What for the police was deployed ?
Raising the question on the role of police , the bench
asked on Wednesday , “ What were they
doing? Watching her get
killed?" We might stop passing any orders if you are going to kill
people.”
But the most unresolved question is – Why the evil was
not dipped in the bud ? How the hoteliers encroached and raised the illegal
constructions by defying the set norms ? Why the officials responsible for
having an eagle eye on the illegal constructions ignored
the defiance ? The whole scene
shows that the officials during the encroachment era had misutilised their official capacity with
some favour or fervor . Why they let the clippers of law loose ? Now the honest
officer has to sacrifice her life for the laxity and the inactiveness of the
corrupt nexus .
Enquiries will be made and the reports shall be submitted
to the higher up state authorities , but
will all the other officials responsible
for letting the evil-bud to blossom be brought in the net ? Otherwise each and every will dare to
challenge the rule of the law . Fear of
Law should always be there to make the society
fearless .
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