Woman jailed on mistaken identity, lady Sub-Inspector suspended

Balasore, Sep 10 (UNI) A lady Sub-Inspector was placed under suspension on charges of wrongly forwarding to the court a lady, who was later imprisoned on mistaken identity.

The action against Sub-Inspector Sarojni Singh posted at Jaleswar police station was taken yesterday on the basis of an inquiry report which stated that Binapani Mukhi, wife of Gourisankar Mukhi of one Panchughanta village, was wrongly arrested by Police on March 8 last and then jailed.

According to social activist Sandeep Mohanty, the Jaleswar police while executing a warrant on Minati Mukhi alias Mini arrested Binapani since her nick name was also similar to that of Minati.

Minati Mukhi was arrested by the Excise department for selling and possessing illegal country liquor and was later released on bail.

Judicial Magistrate (First Class) Jaleswar had fixed a date in 2001 for pronouncing the judgment on the case.

As Minati did not turn up to the court, the pronouncement of the judgment was kept in a seal cover and the court issued a warrant against her.

Six years after the warrant was issued by the court, the Jaleswar police arrested Binapani in place of Minati on March 1 last and she was produced before the court which convicted her and sentenced her two years rigorous imprisonment besides a fine of Rs 2000.

Binapani's husband Gourisankar, working as a sweeper at Jaleswar NAC, however, pleaded that his wife was innocent and put behind the bar on mistaken identity.

He even petitioned to the President of India, the Prime Minister, the Orissa Governor and the National Human Rights Commission to free his innocent wife from the jail custody.

In the course of police investigation, it was learnt that Binapani had been picked up wrongly as Minati's husband's name was mentioned as Barendra in the PR bond by the then Excise Officer Ramapada Mukharjee.

The probe team could realise the arrest was a case of mistaken identity and communicated it to the court. The lady, however, was yet to be released from the jail, sources said.

UNI