NIA moves HC to quash FIR on officers, CRPF personnel
Times of India | 10 April 2024
Kolkata: NIA on Tuesday moved the Calcutta High Court, asking it to quash the FIR lodged against its officers and CRPF personnel by the wife of an arrested accused in the Bhupatinagar blast case, alleging that she and three other women were abused, heckled and molested.
The HC said it would hear the case at 11am on Wednesday and asked NIA to give copies of its petition to all respondents, including the state.
When the matter came up for hearing before Justice Jay Sengupta, NIA said it had gone to Bhupatinagar on April 6 to probe a case based on the HC’s June 2023 orders. It submitted that while arresting the two accused over the 2022 blast case, in which three people died, its officers and CRPF personnel came under mob attack, led mostly by women. NIA claimed one of its officers was injured, and their car was ransacked. NIA said it had lodged an FIR on the attack on the same day.
Later in the day, the agency came to know that an FIR has been lodged against its officials and CRPF personnel, including women constables.
The charges which NIA wants quashed by the high court include 354 and 354 B of Indian Penal Code, which refers to criminal assault on a woman to disrobe her.