A civil contempt petition has been filed in the Uttarakhand High Court, saying that a 2024 order of the court, giving the state government one year to replace revenue police with regular police in the hilly regions, has not been complied with.
The court has asked the state to give instructions on compliance.
Filed by Haldwani-based Amit Kholiya and represented by advocate Dushyant Mainali, the petition argues that the state government has not been able to set up regular civil police stations in rural parts of the state, replacing revenue police within the time given to them by the High Court in its judgment of May 21, 2024.
An earlier PIL had sought directions to implement a 2018 order of the High Court, which also dealt with the establishment of regular civil police stations in all the rural areas of Uttarakhand and to abolish revenue police within six months of the order. The court order came in the backdrop of a woman’s alleged killing by her in-laws for dowry in 2011 in a village in the Tehri Garhwal district, which comes under the revenue police system.
In 2024, when the PIL was filed, the state sought another year for the same, which the court granted.
Mainali argued that the state has failed to carry out the orders despite the completion of a year, prompting a civil contempt petition against the Home Secretary, DGP, and IGs of Kumaon and Garhwal divisions.
The revenue police system is more than a century old in many parts of the state. Under the system, civil officials of the revenue department have the powers and functions of the regular police. Whenever a crime takes place, the revenue police of the area files an FIR, investigates the case, arrests the accused and also files a chargesheet in the local court.
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The issue gained attention in September 2022 after a delay in the registration of an FIR by the revenue police in the Ankita Bhandari murder case. The night the 19-year-old, working in a resort owned by a former BJP leader’s son, was killed, the accused informed the local patwari (as the area falls under revenue police jurisdiction) about her disappearance, but no case was registered. The patwari did not inform anyone about the case and went on leave, and after the matter came to light, the case was transferred to the regular police four days after the incident. He was suspended and later arrested by the Special Investigation Team.
The incident raised concerns about the revenue police system in the state, and Assembly Speaker Ritu Khanduri had written to the Chief Minister, seeking the replacement of the revenue police with regular police.
In October 2022, less than a month after Bhandari’s murder, the state government took a Cabinet decision to abolish the revenue police system and replace it with regular civil police.
The current petition also claims that the petitioner on May 26 sent a representation reminding the respondents about their assurance to comply with the court order and served them a copy of the judgment, “but no heed has been paid to the same and the directions issued by this Hon’ble Court is not being complied with”, the petition said.
