Pune: A sessions court sentenced an engineer to six-month rigorous imprisonment 11 years after he slapped a head constable inside Dattawadi police station on May 29, 2015 while the latter was questioning him about a complaint his father had lodged against him.Additional sessions judge H M Bhosale on Friday held Vikram Prakash Waikar (49) guilty under sections 353 and 332 of the IPC and imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 under each section.According to the prosecution, Vikram’s father had approached the police alleging that his son had abused and assaulted his wife (Vikram’s mother), and attempted to evict her from the house. A non-cognisable report was registered and police personnel were sent to bring Vikram to the police station.Head constable Ramesh Mujmule, dealing with the complaint, questioned Vikram about his conduct. The prosecution said Vikram, aggrieved by the inquiry, slapped Mujmule on his left cheek and abused him. Mujmule subsequently lodged a complaint, leading to registration of an FIR.The court found Mujmule’s evidence consistent and trustworthy. It noted that the defence failed to bring out any material contradiction during his cross-examination. His evidence was also corroborated by the contemporaneous medical record, which recorded tenderness in his left ear, contusions on his hand and neck, and a blood clot on the left ear’s tympanic membrane.The court also rejected the defence contention that the actual medical officer had not been examined. It held that the substitute doctor’s evidence, based on the contemporaneous medical record, could be considered corroborative evidence and did not create reasonable doubt in the circumstances of the case.While sentencing Vikram, the court observed that assaulting a public servant during official duty had “a dimension beyond a private dispute” and could undermine the authority of law and impede the effective discharge of public duties.
