Coming to the rescue of a 55-year-old man suffering with Cerebral Palsy and whose premises has been illegally occupied by a Delhi lady cop for the past one year, the Court of Commissioner of Persons with Disabilities (CCPD), under the Social Welfare Ministry, has expressed displeasure at the Delhi Police’ failure to act against its personnel for cheating the person with disability (PwD).
“…this is not merely a matter of civil nature but a matter of abuse of a person with disability by a representative of the Government and provisions of Section 7 of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016,” said the court in a recent hearing in a petition filed by PwD Harish Kumar Jhamb.
Jhamb had alleged that except initiating departmental enquiry (DE) the police had not taken any action against the erring cop Manisha posted at Security Line, Vinay Marg who was neither paying her rent nor vacating the premises.
On the basis of the Jhamb complaint, the CCPD issued notice to Delhi police which was represented by ACP Satveer Singh (Security) during the case hearing on February 2, 2021.
Commissioner for Persons with Disability Upma Srivastava expressed shock that in “cases where a property is occupied illegally, it is normally police approached for eviction. However, contrary to this in the present complaint, a lady constable of police is herself harassing the complainant”, this despite that the complainant’s condition was pathetic who was trying hard to make the two ends meet in the absence of rental income, his only source of income.
The Court has now directed the Delhi police to expedite the DE against the erring cop as well as deduct rental amount from her salary to ensure that Jhamb can live a dignified life.
Given the seriousness of the situation and the assurance given by the respondent that necessary action will be taken towards redressal of the complainant’s grievance, Commissioner Srivastava has also suggested imposition of considerable penalty on the lady police constable including suspension from the service and recovery of the entire due amount of rent for cheating a person with disability.
Initially Jhamb had approached the district DCP (South East) and SHO of the area who dismissed the matter calling it ‘tenancy dispute between landlord and tenant, which is civil in nature and no police action is required”.
According to Jhamb, he had rented out his premises at Govind Puri, Kalkaji to Manisha in October 2019 on a monthly rent of Rs 8,500. He alleged that she stopped giving rent from February, 2020. Jhamb also alleged that Manisha behaved rudely with him and threatened him of dire consequences if he reported this matter to any one further.
Unhappy at the police response, the court noticed that “miscarriage of justice is being carried out by a representative of Delhi Police which should not be taken lightly by her superiors.
“As evident from the hearing held, the condition of the complainant is pathetic who has been reduced to a hand to mouth existence on account of loss of the basic source of his livelihood, i.e. the rental from his flat,” said the court in a five page order.
“Till such time the inquiry is over, the rental amount be deducted from the salary of the lady constable and deposited in the account of the complainant to ensure that he can live a dignified life,” it further said.