S.V.Vaishnav v. The Assistant Commissioner Of
BEFORE THE MADURAI BENCH OF MADRAS HIGH COURT DATED: 17.05.2018
CORAM:
THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE M.S.RAMESH Crl.O.P.[MD].No.8413 of 2018 1.S.V.Vaishnav 2.R.Krithika ... Petitioners Vs.
1.The State Through, The Assistant Commissioner of Police, City Crime Branch, Trichy.
2.The Inspector of Police, City Crime Branch, Trichy.
3.Vetrivel 4.Aruna ... Respondents PRAYER: Criminal Original Petition filed under Section 482 of Cr.P.C. praying to direct the 1st and 2nd respondents thereby not to harass the petitioners in the case of dishonor of Cheque under Section 138 of NI Act proceedings as enquiry with the retribution motivation of the 3rd and 4th respondents.
For Petitioners :
Mr.M.Laxmi Mahendraa For Respondents :
Mr.A.P.G.Ohm Chairma Prabhu 1 & 2 Government Advocate[Crl. side]
ORDER
It is the grievance of the petitioners are that the respondent police have been harassing them, under the guise of an enquiry/investigation and hence, has invoked the inherent powers of this Court under Section 482 of Cr.P.C.
2.An enquiry into a non cognizable offence or a cognizable offence is the unfettered powers of the Investigation Officers so long as the power to investigate/enquire into these offences are legitimately exercised within the frame work of Chapter XII of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Though the Code of Criminal Procedure empowers the Magistrate to be a guardian in all the stages of the police investigation, there is no power envisaging him to interfere
with the actual investigation or the mode of investigation. It is in this background that numerous petitions complaining of harassment are being reported and filed before this Court seeking for directions to refrain the police officials from harassing the persons named in a complaint.
3.This Court, exercising its power under Section 482 of the Criminal Procedure Code normally would not interfere with the investigation conducted by a police officer. Nevertheless, it would also not turn a blind eye to instances of harassment by the police under the guise of investigation is brought to its notice. 4.In the present case in hand, the petitioners have complained of harassment by the police based on a complaint and seeks 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.
5.In order to circumvent such situations, the following guidelines are issued, subject to such complaint being kept pending against the petitioners herein:
a)While summoning any persons named in the complaint or any witness to the incident complained of, the police officer shall summon such persons 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 minutes of the enquiry shall be recorded in the general diary/station diary/daily diary of the police station.
c)The police officer shall refrain himself or herself from harassing persons called upon for enquiry/investigation.
d)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.
6.With the above observations and direction, the Criminal Original Petition stands allowed.
Sd/- Vacation Officer.
/True Copy/ Sub Assistant Registrar
To 1.The Assistant Commissioner of Police, City Crime Branch, Trichy.
2.The Inspector of Police, City Crime Branch, Trichy.
3.The Additional Public Prosecutor, Madurai Bench of Madras High Court, Madurai.
+1CC to M/s.M.Laxmi Mahendraa, Advocate, SR.No. 65819 Crl.O.P.[MD].No.8413 of 2018 17.05.2018 sji AM/SKN RSK/SAR 4/31.05.2018/3P/5C