Supreme Court directs Patna High Court Chief Justice to consider Police Officer's complaint alleging assault inside District Judge's chamber

The Supreme Court of India on Monday directed Chief Justice Sanjay Karol of Patna High Court to look into the complaint of a police officer who was allegedly assaulted inside the chambers of an Additional District Judge (ADJ) in Patna [Gopal Krishna and Anr. vs State of Bihar]..The petitioner Gopal Krishna moved the Supreme Court challenging a Patna High Court order dated August 31 by which it accepted the closure report in the complaint filed by him against the District Judge.A bench of Justices MR Shah and CT Ravikumar of the top court said on Monday that if the allegations were true, the Court cannot tolerate it. "What is happening in the High Court? We do not know what is right or wrong. But if it is true, how can we tolerate it?" the Court said.Hence, the Court directed the Chief Justice of Patna High Court to look into the complaint and to take a decision independently."Let Chief Justice of Patna High Court look into the complaint of the petitioner and take a decision independently. Hon'ble High Court make consider the counter filed by the judicial officer. The Chief Justice of the High Court should bear in mind the paramount importance of judicial discipline of the institution as whole," it said..As per the petitioner, he was called inside the chamber of ADJ Avinash Kumar on November 18, 2021.This was after a complaint was filed by one Usha Devi, wife of one Deepak Raj alleging that the petitioner, who was the station house officer of Ghoghardiha police station, had threatened to falsely implicate Devi, Raj husband and her other family members.As per the petition, when the petitioner reached the chamber of ADJ Avinash Kumar, he started abusing the petitioner and when the petitioner protested against such behaviour, he was severely assaulted at the behest of the ADJ..An FIR was lodged against the judge but only after a considerable delay on June 20, 2022.The judge also lodged an FIR against the petitioner in November 2021 based on which the petitioner was arrested. He managed to secure bail only in June 2022.Meanwhile, when the petitioner's FIR which came up for challenge before the High Court, it was observed by the court that the police officers who registered the same, were in contempt of court.The State submitted that the same was registered out of misconception of facts and filed a closure report.The High Court accepted the report and directed the lower court to close the proceedings..[Read order]