Eluvi v. The Superintendent Of Police
BEFORE THE MADURAI BENCH OF MADRAS HIGH COURT DATED: 18.12.2019
CORAM:
THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE A.D.JAGADISH CHANDIRA Crl.O.P.(MD) No.18889 of 2019 Eluvi
...Petitioner
Vs.
1. The Superintendent of Police, Trichy District, Trichy.
2. The Inspector of Police Thuvarankurichi Police Station, Thuvarankurichi, Trichy District.
3. Jeyalakshmi
...Respondents
PRAYER: Criminal Original Petition filed under Section 482 Cr.P.C. praying to direct the second respondent not to harass the petitioner in the guise of enquiry on the basis of petitioner's representation dated 11.12.2019.
For Petitioner : Mr.T. Vadivelan For R-1 & R-2 : Mr.S.Chandrasekar Additional Public Prosecutor
ORDER
This petition has been filed seeking direction to direct the second respondent police not to harass the petitioner under the guise of enquiry on the basis of petitioner's representation, dated 11.12.2019.
2. The learned counsel appearing for the petitioner submits that the respondent police harassed the petitioner under the guise of enquiry.
3.The learned Additional Public Prosecutor appearing for the respondent police submits that on a complaint given by one Chinnapillai enquiry has been initiated in CSR No. 344 of 2019. At this juncture, the learned counsel appearing for the petitioner would submit that the petitioner's son has cheated by one Jeyalakshmi and she has already married twice and that the second respondent police instructed to the petitioner and his son to pay a sum of Rs.5,00,000/-(Rupees Five Lakhs only) as compensation to the third respondent.
4.Heard the learned Counsel for the petitioner and learned Additional Public Prosecutor for the respondent police. 5.It is the grievance of the petitioner that the respondent police 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.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.
7.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. 8.
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. 9.
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 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.
f) The Deputy Superintendent of Police, Trichy is directed to
monitor the enquiry made in CSR No. 344 of 2019 on the file of the second respondent police.
10.
With the above observations and direction, the Criminal Original Petition stands disposed of.
Sd/- Assistant Registrar (crl side) // True Copy // / /2020 Sub Assistant Registrar(CS) Ksa To
1. The Superintendent of Police, Trichy District, Trichy.
2. The Deputy Superintendent of Police, Trichy.
3. The Inspector of Police Thuvarankurichi Police Station, Thuvarankurichi, Trichy District.
4.The Additional Public Prosecutor Madurai Bench of Madras High Court, Madurai.
+1 CC to Mr.T.VADIVELAN, Advocate ( SR-105249[F] dated 17/12/2019 ) Crl.O.P.(MD) No.18889 of 2019 18.12.2019 VB(21.01.2020) 3P 6C