The Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has pulled up the Bandra Police for allegedly failing to act on a citizen’s complaint of physical assault and illegal detention, directing a senior-level inquiry and calling the conduct of the concerned police station “non-serious.”
The complainant, Saurabh R. Singh, appeared before the Commission and alleged that despite submitting a written complaint on April 10, 2024, to the Bandra Police Station regarding an incident in which he was assaulted by a woman customer inside a bank (name withheld) on April 5, 2024, no FIR has been registered as of to date. Singh also claimed he was wrongfully detained in the police lock-up and is in possession of video evidence of the assault.
During the proceedings on June 9, 2025, Police Inspector (PI) Administration Sudarshan Gaikwad from Bandra Police Station appeared before the Commission and submitted a letter seeking more time to file a reply. However, the Commission noted that PI Gaikwad is not the official respondent in the case, thereby directing the official respondent, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Zone 9 to file a reply.
The Commission expressed concern that despite the presence of multiple officers of inspector rank in Zone 9, the inquiry was not being treated with appropriate seriousness, especially considering the matter involves alleged human rights violations.
Meanwhile when the officer present before the commission claimed the CCTV footage from April 5, 2024 of the police station was not available, tgeb commission pulled up the officers, thereby reminding him of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Parmvir Singh Saini v. Baljit Singh, which mandates that CCTV footage at police stations be preserved for at least one year. The commission stated that the entire responsibility for maintenance of the CCTV squarely relied with the Station House Officer (SHO), as reiterated by a circular from the Director General’s office.
The Commission also highlighted inconsistencies regarding the registration of the complaint. Though the police claimed Singh did not approach them to register the FIR, he has provided a copy of his April 11, 2024, application stamped and signed by the Bandra Police Station.
The SHRC thus have directed an ACP rank police officer to initiate a fact-finding inquiry, thereby to file a report and to submit the same in a form of an affidavit before the commission to be submitted via affidavit by the next hearing on June 23, 2025. The commission also asked the officials to give an explanation as to why no official record or footage was maintained when the police were directly involved in the incident.
