The Uttarakhand State Police Complaints Authority has delivered a damning verdict against Retired IPS Officer Lokeshwar Singh, holding him directly responsible for the physical assault and humiliation of RTI Activist Laxmi Datt Joshi inside the Superintendent of Police office in Rudraprayag on 6 February 2023, and recommending immediate legal and departmental proceedings against the former senior police officials involved.

Joshi’s complaint detailed a chilling sequence: summoned under the guise of routine questioning, he was allegedly taken to a deliberately chosen room without CCTV cameras, stripped naked, mercilessly beaten by Singh and six subordinates, forced to sign blank documents under threat, and then shoved out through a rear exit to avoid public notice. Medical examination conducted the following day at the district hospital recorded multiple contusions, abrasions, and soft-tissue injuries consistent with blunt-force trauma, supported by X-ray evidence of rib bruising.

Singh filed repeated affidavits between April 2023 and February 2024 categorically denying any violence, insisting Joshi was merely questioned regarding vehicle arson incidents and released the same evening in the presence of family members. He portrayed the activist as a habitual offender with a long criminal record involving gambling, assault on public servants, violations under the Police Act, Goonda Act, and SC/ST Act provisions, claiming all actions were based on formal complaints received by the police station.

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Joshi systematically rebutted every charge, providing court documents demonstrating that none of the cases had resulted in conviction and alleging that most FIRs were engineered at Singh’s behest to retaliate against his RTI applications exposing corruption, illegal construction, and untreated sewage flowing from police quarters onto public land. Municipal and revenue records examined by the authority confirmed the existence of the sewage discharge problem, undermining the officer’s denial.

After exhaustive scrutiny of medical reports, inspection memos, land records, CCTV footage from adjacent areas, and over a dozen rounds of sworn submissions, the Police Complaints Authority concluded that Singh’s version contained irreconcilable contradictions while Joshi’s timeline and injuries were fully corroborated. Declaring the incident a gross abuse of authority and position, the panel has directed the state government to initiate criminal prosecution and disciplinary measures, while ordering enhanced security for the complainant who continues to receive life threats from unidentified persons linked to the former officer.

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