Dipali Mondal v. State Of West Bengal And ORS.

S/L 85 21.6.2022 Court. No. 19 sn WPA 13868 of 2021 Dipali Mondal Vs.

The State of West Bengal & Ors.

Mr. Supratim Dhar Mr. Swapan Kumar Mallick Ms. Sudeshna Das ... for the petitioner Mr. S. Sengupta Mr. Manas Kumar Sadhu ..for the State Despite service, none appears on behalf of the respondent no.8. Let the affidavit-of-service be taken on record.

The petitioner alleges that the Officer-in-Charge, Garhbeta Police Station has failed and neglected to proceed with the investigation, which was registered against the respondent No. 8.

The allegation is that the respondent no.8 while serving as a Headmaster of Khanpur Hirendralal Sarkar High School, had defalcated the funds, which had been sanctioned by the State of West Bengal, for the mid-day meal programme.

Accordingly, an application was filed under Section 156(3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure before the learned jurisdictional Magistrate. On the basis of the order passed by the learned Magistrate, an F.I.R. was registered by the police authorities and Garhbeta Police Station Case no. 379 of 2020 dated October 7, 2020 was initiated.

It is submitted that although the respondent no.8 has been transferred to another school, the petitioner is continuously threatened by his associates who have been forcing him to withdraw the complaint. Mr. Sengupta, learned advocate for the State respondents submits that the investigation is under progress, but the information with regard to the investigation has not yet received. It also appears that the Block Development Officer, Garhbeta-I Block issued a show-cause notice to the respondent no.8, on the self-same allegation.

Having considered the rival contentions of the parties, this Court is of the view that the investigation must be expedited and concluded in a free, fair and impartial manner.

The investigating agency shall ensure that the investigation is completed within a period of two months from the date of communication of this order, if not already done.

The Superintendent of Police, Paschim Medinipore shall ensure strict compliance of this order.

Needless to mention, that the police authorities shall ensure that no harm is caused to the petitioner. This writ petition is disposed of.

However, there will be no order as to costs.

All the parties are directed to act on the basis of the server copy of this order.

(Shampa Sarkar, J.)