M A I N   N E W S

City Magistrate accused of rape, marriage fraud
Dharmendra Joshi
Tribune News Service

Panipat, November 5
The district police has come under a cloud over the handling of an allegation of rape and fraud against an HCS officer, Mr Jeet Singh Mehra, at present posted as City Magistrate, Panipat.

A Sonepat girl has accused the officer of raping her after a fraudulent marriage. Despite the registration of an FIR on the orders of a city court against the officer, the police has not arrested the accused. Earlier, the police had not registered the FIR even though the victim had approached it several times, forcing her to go to court.

The FIR was registered at Model Town police station yesterday on orders passed by the Panipat Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM), Ms Manaisha Batra, on October 30. She ordered the FIR be registered under Sections 376 (rape), 420 (fraud and cheating), 467, 468, 471 (fake documents) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC.

When contacted, Panipat Superintendent of Police Suman Manjri said the mere registration of an FIR was not adequate ground for arrest. The matter would be investigated, following which it would be decided whether arrest was needed or not.

However, the accused has not been available in town since Wednesday afternoon. While Reader Ranbir Singh told The Tribune that the City Magistrate had not attended office since Wednesday, a cook at his residence in Model Town said he had gone out of station and he did not know when he would be back. The mobile of the accused was switched off.

The victim, a resident of Gannaur in Sonepat district, has alleged that Mr Mehra raped her for eight months after conducting a sham marriage with her. He had made her believe that he was unmarried.

However, he was already married to a teacher in a government school at Devidasspur, Kurukshetra, she alleges. He also has a 14-year-old daughter. The victim has provided documentary evidence to prove her allegation.

She alleges that she had visited Mr Mehra, then SDM, Gannaur, for the issuance of her driving licence in November last year. However, he called her several times to his office on one pretext or the other and then proposed her marriage, to which she agreed.

According to her, Mr Mehra called her to Gharauda in Karnal for a court marriage on February 18 this year, and then took her to Ambala the next day and got her statement recorded in a district court. Following which, he told her that they were husband and wife. Subsequently, she started living with him as his wife, she claims.

She was kept at Kurukshetra from February 19 to August 19. Thereafter, he took her to his official residence as City Magistrate at Model Town, Panipat, and kept her there till October 18.

The victim alleges that Mr Mehra admitted in October in a drunken condition that their marriage had not been solemnised and that he was already married and had a daughter.

She then called her parents and the Model Town police and she was rescued from Mr Mehra's "clutches" on October 18.

The victim has also alleged that Mr Mehra took away Rs 54,000 from her, which she had deposited in a bank, as also her jewellery.