Kritiman Bharti v. The State Of Bihar

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA

Criminal Writ Jurisdiction Case No.1387 of 2022 Arising Out of PS. Case No.-14 Year-2022 Thana- HARNAUT District- Nalanda ====================================================== KRITIMAN BHARTI S/O Sri Shiv Kumar @ Sri Shiv Kumar Prasad R/O Village- Hajipur, P.O- Korari, P.S- Nagarnausa, District- Nalanda ... ... Petitioner

Versus

1.

The State of Bihar 2.

The Director General of Police, Bihar, Patna Bihar 3.

The Additional Director General of Police (Head Quarter), Sardar Patel Bhawan Bailey Road, Patna Bihar 4.

Inspector General of Police, Sardar Patel Bhawan, Bailey Road, Patna Bihar 5.

The Superintendent of Police, Nalanda at Biharsharif Bihar 6.

The Deputy Superintendent of Police, Biharsharif, Nalanda Bihar 7.

The Station House Officer, Harnaut Police Station, District- Nalanda Bihar ... ... Respondents ====================================================== Appearance :

For the Petitioner/s :

Mr.Vineet Kumar,Advocate For the Respondent/s :

Mr.Iqbal Asif Niazi, AC to GP-5 ====================================================== CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE RAJEEV RANJAN PRASAD ORAL ORDER 06-12-2022 Heard Mr. Vineet Kumar, learned counsel for the petitioner and Mr. Iqbal Asif Niazi, learned AC to GP-5 for the State.

Petitioner in the present case is seeking direction to the respondents to conduct proper investigation of Harnaut P.S. Case no. 14 of 2022 registered under Sections 304(B)/34 of I.P.C.

Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that even as this case was lodged against the named accused persons as back as on 07.01.2022 and the allegations are heinous and

2/7 serious in nature, the accused persons are still moving freely and the investigating agency is not taking any action to arrest them. It is submitted that being aggrieved by the inaction on the part of the investigating agency, the petitioner has lodged a protest in the court of learned C.J.M., Nalanda at Biharsharif. The petitioner has stated before the learned C.J.M. that the police are in collusion with the accused persons.

It is further stated that the viscera of the deceased had been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory, Patna but till date the I.O. has not collected the report.

Mr. Iqbal Asif Niazi, learned AC to GP-5 for the State submits that in the given facts and circumstances of the case, instead of keeping this writ application pending, it may be disposed in terms of the order dated 09.09.2022 passed in Cr.W.J.C. No. 153 of 2017 and other analogous matters. Learned counsel for the petitioner agrees with the same.

For a ready reference, the order dated 09.09.2022 passed in Cr.W.J.C. No. 153 of 2017 and other analogous matters is being reproduced hereunder:- "(I) In the cases where the investigation of the case is still pending, the concerned writ petitioner/an aggrieved person (hereinafter referred to as the 'writ petitioner' or 'an aggrieved person')

3/7 may file an appropriate application before the Senior Superintendent of Police/Superintendent of Police of the concerned district drawing his attention towards the pending investigation. The aggrieved person shall submit his stand by way of an application with all supporting materials in the office of Senior Superintendent of Police/Superintendent of Police or send the same through registered post/speed post/email, as the case may be. A copy of the same shall also be sent to the investigating officer of the case.

(II) On receipt of such application from the aggrieved person, the Senior Superintendent of Police/ Superintendent of Police shall himself supervise the said case within a period of two weeks, wherever necessary he shall give a chance of hearing to the aggrieved person and all endeavours be made to consider the submissions as well as the materials produced before him.

(III) The Senior Superintendent of Police/ Superintendent of Police shall issue necessary instructions to any other supervising authority such as Dy.S.P. and also to the I.Os. of the case to complete the investigation from all angles within a reasonable period. What will be the reasonable period will depend upon the nature of the case and the kind of materials which are required to be dealt with. 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. There are many judicial pronouncements of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in which the prosecution has been quashed because the investigating agency failed to complete the

4/7 investigation of the case despite lapse of several years. Undue delay in completion of investigation erodes public faith and confidence in the investigating agency.

(IV) 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, it is the Sr. Superintendent of Police/Superintendent of Police of the concerned district and the Station House Officer of the concerned police station as well as the I.O.

of the case who would be duty bound to enter or caused to be entered the information in the station diary of the police station and examine or caused to be examined the threat perception of the informant and/or his family members/witnesses and take appropriate steps at the earliest, in the cases where threat perceptions are found to be genuine, they would take immediate measures to protect the life of the person(s) under threat. Delay in examining the request/representation leading to any serious consequences shall in itself be a matter of enquiry and action against the erring police officials.

(V) As regards the grievance that accused persons are not being arrested in cases involving serious and heinous offences the Senior Superintendent of Police/Superintendent of Police/Investigating Officer 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 I.O. must take immediate steps to arrest him and exhaust all other procedures in accordance with law with utmost expedition.

5/7 (VI) This Court has already reproduced the extracts from judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Sakiri Vasu (supra). In the light of the said judgment, this Court directs that in all these cases the learned Magistrate(s) in whose court the case is pending, shall, without seeking any application from the informant monitor the investigation. They are fully competent to take a view as to whether a proper investigation is taking place or not. Learned Magistrates are expected to exercise their powers under Section 156(3) Cr.P.C. to ensure that investigation of the case pending before the learned Magistrate is duly investigated.

If it is found that the Investigating Officer is not proceeding with the investigation expeditiously and is keeping the same pending without rhyme or reason and in the opinion of the learned Magistrate it is found to be a case of inaction on the part of the Investigating Officer, the learned Magistrate would be well within his powers to direct the Senior Superintendent of Police/Superintendent of Police to change the Investigating Officer, to supervise the case himself by the Senior Superintendent of Police/Superintendent of Police and to take appropriate measures in accordance with law. While exercising his power under Section 156(3) Cr.P.C.

6/7 investigation. What would be the nature of such direction(s) in a given case cannot be put in a straight jacket formula and it is for the learned Magistrate to look into this aspect of the matter on case to case basis. An application filed by an aggrieved person with prior service of copy upon the learned Public Prosecutor/A.P.P. seeking directions for proper investigation must be heard expeditiously and the same be disposed of within a period of 30 days from the date on which such application is moved before the learned Magistrate on the first date. If the learned Magistrate fails to exercise his power under Section 156(3) Cr.P.C. either on his own or on filing of the application by the aggrieved person, an appropriate application may be brought before this Court for an order/direction and monitoring as the case may be.

(VII) If any of the directions issued by the learned Magistrate in accordance with the order of this Court as stated above to the Senior Superintendent of Police/Superintendent of Police/investigating officer, unless otherwise interfered with by a competent court of law, is not given effect to by the concerned authorities, it will be taken to be a case of contempt of this Court and the learned Magistrate may inform this Court as regards the willful disobedience or disregard shown to the order/orders, direction/directions issued by him in terms of this judgment. In such circumstance an aggrieved person may also file an application seeking initiation of contempt.

(VIII) All the stake-holders in the present writ applications shall act accordingly. A copy of this order be sent to the Director General of Police, Bihar to enable him to issue necessary instructions at the earliest."

7/7 The Superintendent of Police, Nalanda (Respondent no.5) and the competent court in whose jurisdiction the case is pending are directed to act accordingly.

The I.O. of the case must receive the F.S.L. Report within 30 days from today. Learned Magistrate in whose jurisdiction the case is pending is supposed to look into this aspect of the matter and seek compliance from the I.O. in order to facilitate smooth progress of the investigation. This Court has been noticing that in several cases, the complaint of one of the sides/parties is that the F.S.L. Report or injury report(s) have not been received, in some of the cases, in order to deprive the person in jail from coming out on the ground of non-filing of the chargesheet, the police authorities are filing chargesheets hurriedly even without collecting F.S.L. Report and ascertaining their truth as to the allegations.

Time has come where the judicial officers in whose court the case is pending should take upon them to look into these aspects of the matter as part of the monitoring of the investigation.

This writ application stands disposed of accordingly. (Rajeev Ranjan Prasad, J) tusharika/- U T