5 Nainital zila panchayat members ‘abducted to stop them from voting’, High Court says police ‘failed miserably’

The election took place on Thursday, and the five members were unable to cast their votes. The district magistrate has said a repoll can be conducted.

On Monday, the counsel for the petitioner screened videos of a group wielding swords near the polling booth and said that “the criminals” were in a hotel near the booth a day prior and were brandishing swords fewer than 100 metres away from the booth. A video showed one of the panchayat members, Dikar Singh Mewari, being dragged away by goons. On Thursday, when the last hearing was conducted, the families of the zila panchayat members had alleged that they were abducted.

The lawyer for the petitioner also said the counting was conducted at 3 am on Friday and sought an inquiry into it. However, the court said their focus was on the alleged inaction by the police.

The court said that it would hear the matter related to the law and order situation and that issues regarding recounting should be taken up with the state Election Commission.

Taking strong note of the failure to prevent the incident, the High Court said that SSP P N Meena should be transferred. “It is evident from the video. Their (petitioner’s) allegation is not that there was violence in the polling booth, but the area near it,” the court said. The counsel for the state, Deputy Advocate General J S Virk, said that all five “kidnapped” members have submitted in their statements before the magistrate that they were not kidnapped. The five were presented, but the court did not hear them, stating that their statements were not relevant as they were now safe.

The court said, “Nainital is not just a tourist town, it is the seat of the High Court. How can we condone this?”

Noting that a police officer was present when men roamed around with weapons, the court said, “It is not one person, 10 people are there. How did you not notice it? The negligence starts with him (the SSP)… This is a gross failure.” The SSP said the accused have been identified and that they would be arrested. An FIR has been registered in the case.

The court reiterated that such a situation should have been anticipated on election day.

Asking the Advocate General to convey to the government why the SSP should not be transferred, the court said they were unhappy with his replies. The court said that during such elections, there are close fights and “if five people have gone missing, the SSP did not know? What did he do?”

This comes days after an order by the High Court regarding the protection of candidates for the same elections. On August 13, Pushpa Negi, a zila panchayat member, had approached the court expressing apprehension that the chairman’s election scheduled for the next day may not be free, fair and transparent.

On the day, the court had said, “There is no doubt that the elections are the lifeline of democracy. Each vote matters. Elections are definitely to be conducted in a free, fair and transparent manner. Statements have been given on behalf of the State as well as the State Election Commission that elections shall be free, fair and in a transparent manner.”

Following Monday’s arguments, the court asked the DM to file affidavits along with supporting documents, placing on record the sequence of events and developments post the elections, and the SSP to file one detailing the events leading up to the violence that appear on the videos. The court will further hear the submission on this on Tuesday.

In another incident, according to police, on August 14, when the polling was underway for the block head’s election at Betalghat in Nainital, supporters of one candidate opened indiscriminate fire with pistols on the supporters of the rival candidate and issued death threats. Six people were arrested in this case.