Gurugram School Murder Case | Punjab & Haryana HC Sets Aside Order Declining Sanction To Prosecute SIT Members Accused Of Framing Bus Conductor

The Punjab & Haryana High Court has set aside an order refusing to grant sanction to prosecute the four members of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the Commissioner of Police, accused of framing a school bus conductor in the Gurugram school student murder case.In 2017, a 7-year-old boy was found dead in a school in Gurugram. Initially, Haryana Police investigated the case and a bus conductor Ashok Kumar was arrested as the prime accused. However, widespread public outrage and media scrutiny led the Haryana government to transfer the probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).The CBI alleged that the murder was committed by a juvenile student of the same school and Kumar had been falsely implicated by the SIT through fabricated evidence and coerced witness statements. The CBI subsequently sought sanction under Section 197 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) to prosecute four SIT members, but the same was rejected.Justice Kuldeep Tiwari said, "In the absence of any reasons becoming assigned, an administrative order can be termed as a non speaking order. Therefore, this Court has no hesitation to conclude that, in the absence of any reference being made by the sanctioning authority to the incriminatory evidence produced by the C.B.I., the impugned orders are unsustainable in the eyes of law on account of them being non speaking."Counsel appearing for CBI contended that the eyewitness account as well as the scientific evidence, which vividly destroys the case of the State investigating agency against Ashok Kumar, was not given due weightage by the sanctioning authority.In order to falsely implicate an innocent person, a totally malicious investigation was conducted by the said respondents and the provisions of the POCSO Act were also added by the investigating agency, whereas, the post-mortem report clearly voices that no sexual assault had taken place, he added.After examining the submissions and perusing the statements of the witnesses relied on by CBI, the Court found that inculpatory evidence against Ashok Kumar was extracted and created by members of the S.I.T. by threatening the witnesses to depose against him.The Court observed that the sanctioning authority does not embody any discussion about the incriminatory evidence placed on record by the C.B.I. Reliance was placed on M.P. Special Police Establishment Vs. State of M.P. and Others [(2004) 8 Supreme Court Cases 788] to underscore that, non-consideration of the relevant material placed on record by the sanctioning authority requires judicial review.Justice Tiwari opined that the impugned orders are not only non-speaking but also do not pass the test of legality, hence requiring interference. Moreover, the Court said that it does not have any hesitation to conclude that, the act of the sanctioning authority is clearly arbitrary. While allowing the CBI's petitions, Justice Tiwari remanded the matter to the sanctioning authority for fresh consideration and directed them to evaluate all evidence produced by the CBI and decide on the prosecution request within a month.Mr. Prateek Gupta, Advocate for the petitioner (in CRM-M-5650-2022) and for respondent No.2 (in CRM-M-10268-2021). Mr. Rajesh Gaur, Addl. A.G., Haryana.Mr. S.S. Narula, Advocate for the respondents No.5 to 8 (in CRM-M-5650-2022) and for the respondents No.3 to 6 (in CRM-M-10268-2021).Title: CBI v. State of Haryana along with connected matter.Click here to read/download the order

Gurugram School Murder Case | Punjab & Haryana HC Sets Aside Order Declining Sanction To Prosecute SIT Members Accused Of Framing Bus Conductor

Aiman J. Chishti

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