D.Udayakumar v. The Superintendent Of Police

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS

DATED : 28.12.2022

CORAM

THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE A.A.NAKKIRAN D.Udayakumar ... Petitioner Vs.

1.The State rep by The Superintendent of Police, Tiruvannamalai & District.

2.The Inspector of Police, Anakkavur Police Station, Tiruvannamalai District.

3.N.Selvaraj ... Respondents PRAYER : Criminal Original Petition filed under Section 482 of Cr.P.C., pleased to direct the respondents Police not to harass the petitioner in the guise of enquiry on the basis of the petitioner representation dated 25.12.2022 made to the first respondent herein. For Petitioner : Mr.G.Mageshkumar For R1 & R2 : Mr.L.Baskaran Government Advocate(Crl.side) 1/6

O R D E R

This Criminal Original Petition has been filed seeking to direct the respondents Police not to harass the petitioner. 2.Learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that under the pretext of enquiry, the 2nd respondent Police is unnecessarily harassing the petitioner.

3.Learned Government Advocate (Crl.Side) appearing for the respondents 1 and 2 submitted that on receiving the complaint from one Selvaraj, enquiry has been conducted and the petition enquiry is pending on the file of the second respondent.

4.Heard the learned Counsel for the petitioner and the learned Government Advocate (Crl.Side) for the respondents 1 and 2. 2/6

5.It is the grievance of the petitioner that the 2nd respondent has been harassing him under the guise of an enquiry/investigation and hence, has invoked the inherent powers of this Court under Section 482 of Cr.P.C. 6.In the present case in hand, the petitioner has complained of harassment by the police based on a complaint and seek for this Court's intervention by way of a direction. The term 'harassment' by itself has a very wide meaning and hence, what could be harassment to the petitioner may not be the same to the police officer.

7.In order to circumvent such situations, the following guidelines are issued:

a) While summoning any person named in the complaint or any witness to the incident complained of, the police officer shall summon such person through a written summon under Section 160 Cr.P.C., specifying a particular date and time for appearing before them for such an enquiry/investigation;

b) The respondent police is directed to serve summons 3/6

mentioning the CSR number, date of complaint and the name of the complainant;

c) The minutes of the enquiry shall be recorded in the general diary/station diary/daily diary of the police station; d) The police officer shall refrain himself or herself from harassing persons called upon for enquiry/investigation; e) The guidelines stipulated for preliminary enquiry or registration of FIR by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Lalita Kumari Vs. Government of Uttar Pradesh and others [2014

(2) SCC (1)] shall be strictly adhered to.

8. With the above observations and direction, the Criminal Original Petition stands disposed of.

28.12.2022 Internet : Yes / No Index : Yes / No sp/ham 4/6

To 1.The Superintendent of Police, Tiruvannamalai & District.

2.The Inspector of Police, Anakkavur Police Station, Tiruvannamalai District.

3.The Public Prosecutor, High Court of Madras.

5/6

A.A.NAKKIRAN,J.

sp/ham 28.12.2022 6/6