Why Rs. 10 Lakh Compensation Not Be Recovered From IOs Whose Perfunctory Investigation Allowed Brutal Murderer To Escape Clutches Of Law? Asks Madras HC

The Madras High Court has sought a report from the state government and the DGP as to Whether any disciplinary proceedings have been initiated as against the officials, who are responsible for acquittal because of their perfunctory investigation. In the light of the significant lapses on the part of the investigation, Justice B. Pugalendhi had been compelled to set aside the conviction and sentence imposed on the appellant in a murder case and to acquit him. "The manner in which the investigation was conducted in this case expose the biased attitude of the investigation agency. The Inspectors of Police have conducted the investigation in this case and as pointed out supra, a shabby investigation was conducted by them, without following the basic principles of investigation", said the bench. "The purpose of investigation is to bring out the truth of the case before the Court of law. But, in this case, obviously, it has been obliterated and the investigation has proceeded in a causal manner as to the whims and fancies of the investigation agency...The available materials in this case expose the perfunctory and designed investigation and therefore, this Court is left with no other option except to interfere with the judgment of conviction passed by the trial Court", the bench observed. The bench lamented that From the investigation agency, the Deputy Director of Prosecution upto the Assistant Public Prosecutor, everybody have acted in a casual manner, so as to burry the truth and the real accused, who committed the brutal murder on a poor man escape from the clutches of law. The bench demanded Why a compensation of Rs.10,00,000/- not be awarded to the victim in this case, who suffered because of the perfunctory investigation, which could be recovered from the investigation officers. The bench said In a murder case, if the trial ends in acquittal, a practice was in existence, not very long ago, to call for an explanation from the investigation officer and disciplinary proceedings were initiated, if it was found that the investigation was perfunctory. "But, it appears, this practice is given a go by and the present day investigations are carried out by certain officers as to their whims and fancies", it despaired. "The investigation is the prerogative of the investigation agency. Not even the Court would interfere with the investigation or during the course of investigation and Court would not issue any direction to the manner in which the investigation to be carried out, which would mean that from the lodging of the first information report till the filing of the final report, the right of investigation exclusively is vested with the investigation agency. Whoever high he may be, a victim of any crime has to depend upon the investigation agency. If the investigations are carried out in such a manner, then there cannot be any remedy for the affected victims. It is the responsibility of the State to protect the life and limb of every citizen. The affected victims must be ensured that they would get proper justice for the crime committed on them", asserted the bench. Appreciating The data available under the Crime Records Bureau for the years 2016 to 2011, the bench noted that the conviction rate in the state of Tamil Nadu is slowly declining, while the combined acquittal and discharge rate is on the rise. Therefore, it appeared that the quality of investigation is perfunctory not only in this case, but in almost 50 % of the cases. "The glaring example (of people losing faith in police investigation) is that the majority of people are now hailing the police encounters and majority of people are now opting for other modes of redresses, like Kangaroo Courts, etc", the bench expressed regret. The bench remarked that in the present case it prima facie appears that for favouring the real culprits, the appellant / accused has been made as Aunt Sally and the investigation proceeded in that direction. "It is not known whether the training imparted to the officers for conducting such investigation is sufficient or not; and it is not known as to how the officers are qualified to conduct a investigation. It is not known whether any mechanism is available to conduct the investigation or to start the investigation and to deal with the same in a particular manner, for each type of cases", said the bench. The bench commented that every day it is being witnessed that in a case of theft, though fingerprints were available, they are not taken; Even if they are taken, they are not compared with the fingerprints of the accused. In murder cases, crucial call details were not collected, through the service providers and even if collected, they were not marked before the Court. "In the present scientific age, there are several modes available to detect the real accused and to fix them, but, even then, it appears, the investigation agencies are not adopting the same, as is evident from the figures quoted...

Why Rs. 10 Lakh Compensation Not Be Recovered From IOs Whose Perfunctory Investigation Allowed Brutal Murderer To Escape Clutches Of Law? Asks Madras HC

Mehal Jain

Tags