By Alok Mohit
PATNA: The Patna High Court recently issued a seven-point directive to expedite pending police investigations and criminal justice delivery system in Bihar.
A single-bench of Justice Rajeev Ranjan Prasad, in its order, directed the aggrieved complainants to submit applications to the police chief of the district concerned, who in turn would supervise the case and issue necessary instructions to other senior police officers as well as the investigating officer to complete the probe from all angles within a reasonable period.
The court also directed the magistrate(s), in whose court the cases were pending, to monitor the investigation without seeking any application from the informant. “They (magistrates) are fully competent to take a view as to whether a proper investigation is taking place or not,” the judge said.
While disposing of a bunch of analogous petitions, the Justice Prasad said the court had been noticing that a large number of writ applications were coming to it directly seeking a direction to the investigating agency to conduct a proper, fair and impartial investigation, arrest the accused persons and complete the long-pending investigations. “In some cases, prayers have been made to direct a further investigation after submission of the chargesheet,” he added.
In cases where investigation of the case was pending, the writ petitioner/an aggrieved person might file an application before the senior superintendent of police (SSP)/superintendent of police (SP) concerned with all supporting materials and send its copy to the investigating officer (IO) of the case, the judge said.
“On receipt of such application from the aggrieved person, SSP/ SP shall supervise the case within two weeks, (and) wherever necessary, give a chance of hearing to the aggrieved person…,” he said.
“The SSP/SP shall issue necessary instructions to other supervising authority, such as DSP and the IO of the case to complete the investigation from all angles within a reasonable period,” he said, adding that the reasonable period would depend upon the nature of the case. “It is to be kept in mind that only because the Criminal Procedure Code does not provide for maximum limit within which an investigation is to be completed, it does not mean that the investigation is to be kept pending for decades,” he said.
“Upon receipt of a request/application/representation from a person connected with the case and aggrieved by and dissatisfied with the investigation alleging improper investigation, complaints of threat to him or his family or the witnesses by his opponents, accused or his associates, the SSP/SP of the district concerned, the station house officer of the police station concerned as well as the IO of the case would be duty bound to enter the information in the station diary of the police station and examine the threat perception of the informant and/or his family members/witnesses and take appropriate steps at the earliest… Delay in examining the request/representation leading to any serious consequences shall in itself be a matter of inquiry and action against erring police officials,” the judge said.
“As regards the grievance that accused persons are not being arrested in cases involving serious and heinous offences, the SSP/SP/IO shall take appropriate steps keeping in view the law and judgments of the Hon’ble Apex Court on the subject. In the matter of absconding accused, the IO must take immediate steps to arrest him and exhaust all other procedures in accordance with law with utmost expedition,” he said.
Justice Prasad, in the light of a Supreme Court judgement, directed that the magistrate(s), in whose court the case is pending, to monitor the investigation without seeking any application from the informant. “They are fully competent to take a view as to whether a proper investigation is taking place or not,” he said.
If the IO was found to be keeping the investigation pending without rhyme or reason and in the opinion of the learned magistrate it was found to be a case of inaction on the part of the IO, the magistrate would be well within his powers to direct the SSP/SP to change the investigating officer, supervise the case himself/herself and take appropriate measures in accordance with law, he added.
“If any of the directions issued by the learned magistrate, in accordance with the order of this court, to the SSP/SP/IO, unless otherwise interfered with by a competent court of law, is not given effect to by the authorities concerned, it will be taken to be a case of contempt of this court,” he said.
Justice Prasad said that a copy of the court’s order be sent to the Director General of Police, Bihar, for issuing necessary instructions at the earliest and also to all district courts across the state for circulation among judicial officers.
