'Police Itself Didn't Know That They Were Investigating The Case': Delhi Court Expresses Surprise In Case Relating To Delhi Riots

A Delhi Court has expressed surprise at the Delhi Police's conduct which did not know about clubbing of a complaint, filed by the Respondent in this case alleging attack on his house during the Delhi Riots, with another FIR of the same incident.

"Though the case is being investigated by the police, the police did not itself know that they were investigating the case and when told came to realize that it is investigating the matter, the details of which they do not know," Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat observed.

It noted that the complaint was lodged in March 2020 however, the Police realized of having clubbed the same with another FIR only in November that year, i.e., after a lapse of 8 months.

The Court was dealing with a revision petition filed by the Police challenging a lower court's order directing it to register a separate FIR for the complaint filed by the Respondent herein. The Police claimed that the complaint had already been clubbed and that fact could not inadvertently be presented before the Magistrate. Hence, the impugned order was passed on material which was not produced before the Court.

Dismissing the revision petition by upholding the Metropolitan Magistrate's order, the Court observed:

"This stand is ludicrous as it is preposterous. If this is to be accepted at face value, then what it means is that the Investigating Officer/ SHO concerned did not even know from March till November 2020 during which they filed reply and participated in the proceedings before the Ld. MM, that this complaint has been clubbed with FIR No. 109/20 which was under investigation and it was only at the time of filing of the present revision petition did they somehow came to realize that they are already Investigating the matter."

"This leads to a conclusion that though the case is being investigated by the police, the police did not itself know that they were investigating the case and when told came to realize that it is investigating the matter, the details of which they do not know. Since the police did not itself know that they were investigating the case, the natural corollary is they could not have informed the Court or the complainant/ respondent about the same."

FIR 109/2020 Police Station Jafrabad was registered on the basis of the complaint filed by one Ashqeen.

It was the case of Police that the complaint was registered with the said FIR as it related to the same place, both the occurrences pertained to the same day and complaint was also filed on the same day.

On the other hand, it was the case of Salim that the said FIR was registered on a complaint received on a day after the complaint filed by him therefore the complaint was unrelated to the contents described in FIR No. 109/2020.

"Despite scrutinizing the entire impugned order, this Court found itself at its wits end to locate any infirmity in the said order. The impugned order is lucid and germane to the record of the case. No fault could be found with the said order. May I add here that the status report filed by the police before the Ld. Magistrate could have led to no other conclusion than the one arrived at by the Ld. Magistrate," the Court observed.

The Court also observed that the assertion of clubbing of cases or the inquiry of the complaint of Salim was neither put before the Metropolitan Magistrate by the Investigating Officer or by the prosecution as "if the investigation was being done or clubbing had happened, it must have been known to them."

Observing that Salim's complaint discloses cognizable offences requiring separate investigation, the Court dismissed the revision petition filed by police and directed it to register an FIR within 7 days.

Case Title: State v. Salim

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