Mumbai: Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Barve on Saturday assured "speedy justice" to Right to Information (RTI) activist Yashwant Shinde, who had filed a complaint against Deputy Commissioner of Police (zone 3) Abinash Kumar for assaulting him. Barve told a delegation of RTI activists, who met him here on Saturday, that an inquiry has already been initiated, and the report will be submitted by January 10.
According to sources, the delegation, which included former Chief Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi, Sucheta Dalal, GR Vora, Dolphy D'Souza, Bhaskar Prabhu and Anil Galgali along with Shinde, submitted a memorandum to Barve and Santosh Rastogi, joint commissioner of police (crime). The activists said since no CCTV cameras were installed inside Kumar’s cabin, the cameras installed outside should be checked.
Shinde, 47, said the alleged incident occurred at 4 pm on Dec 27 inside DCP Kumar’s office when he had gone there to meet him regarding an RTI appeal. Shinde said, “The DCP assaulted me along with three other constables, who kicked and punched me. After the incident, I was taken to Byculla police station, where I was booked for creating nuisance in the office.”
In the memorandum, the activists said Shinde had sought certain details under the RTI Act about the police department’s functioning from DCP Kumar, but since he was not satisfied with the replies, he filed a First Appeal to the designated RTI official. After Shinde was allegedly assaulted, he tried calling the Mumbai Police control room, which did not yield any result.
