NEW DELHI: The Patna high court has ordered the police to register an FIR against Kamal Nayan Pandey, the then Station House Officer (SHO) of Murar Police Station in Buxar, accused of brutally beating a man and breaking both his legs, allegedly because of his caste. The order came after the police repeatedly refused to file a case despite the victim’s written complaints.What was the issueThe complainant, Manish Kumar, said that on 4 July 2024 he had gone to a friend’s shop to upload some land documents online. Around 2 PM, while he stepped away briefly, a police vehicle arrived and SHO Kamal Nayan Pandey questioned him, and when he learnt Kumar’s caste, he allegedly abused him and beat him with a baton, breaking both his legs.Kumar wrote to the police station, the Superintendent of Police, and the District Magistrate asking for an FIR to be registered, but nothing happened. He eventually approached the high court.He submitted an X-ray report confirming the fractures. The Superintendent of Police, Buxar, admitted in his reply that Kumar’s legs were indeed broken, but claimed this happened because he slipped in the rain and not because he was beaten.What did the court sayJustice Jitendra Kumar did not accept the police’s version. He said the X-ray evidence did not support the police’s explanation, and added that it was hard to believe a poor man who is too scared to complain even against an ordinary citizen would dare to make up a false story against a police officer.He held that the facts clearly pointed to a serious crime by Kamal Nayan Pandey, who was the officer in charge of Murar Police Station at the time. The judge also clarified that prosecuting a police officer for such an act does not need any special government permission, since beating a citizen has nothing to do with an officer’s actual duties.The judge called it shocking that the victim’s pleas had gone unheard even by senior officials like the SP and the District Magistrate, and remarked that no matter how powerful someone is, the law applies equally to everyone.The judge also warned that if such behaviour by police is not checked, people will lose faith not just in the police but in the courts too, and went as far as to say that unchecked brutality could turn the police force into something resembling Nazi Germany.The judge directed the Murar police to register the FIR against the accused officer immediately and asked the Director General of Police, Bihar, to hand over the investigation to the Crime Investigation Department, since the case involves a police officer.The court added that if Kumar isn’t satisfied with how the CID investigates, he can come back to ask for a CBI inquiry. The DGP was also told to send a compliance report to the court within thirty days.