Allowed

K.Gokulakrishnan, v. the Superintendent of Police

Madras HC12 Mar 2018CRL OP/7399/2018

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

This court exercised inherent powers under Section 482 CrPC to address the petitioner's grievance regarding police harassment. The court issued guidelines requiring written summonses and adherence to Supreme Court precedents to prevent future harassment.

What did the court decide?

Criminal Original Petition allowed with guidelines for summoning and recording enquiry minutes.

K.Gokulakrishnan, Vs the Superintendent of Police — Criminal Trial and Appeal | Madras HC (2018)

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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS

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DATED: 12.03.2018

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CORAM:

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THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE M.S.RAMESH

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Crl.O.P.No.7399 of 2018

K.Gokulakrishnan

.. Petitioner

Vs.

The Superintendent of Police,
O/o. Superintendent of Police,
Cuddalore District,
Cuddalore.
2. The Sub Inspector of Police,
Sirupakkam Police Station,
Cuddalore District,
Cuddalore. .. Respondents

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PRAYER: Criminal Original Petition filed under Section 482 Cr.P.C. praying to direct the respondents police not to harass the petitioner pursuant to his representation dated 07.03.2018.

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For Petitioner : Mr.R.Thirumoorthy
For Respondents : Mr.C.Raghavan
Government Advocate (Crl.side)
* * * * *
O R D E R

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It is the grievance of the petitioner that the respondent police have 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.

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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

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https://hcservices.ecourts.gov.in/hcservices/

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this Court seeking for directions to refrain the police officials from harassing the persons named in a complaint.

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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.

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4.In the present case in hand, the petitioner has 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.

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

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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.

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b)The minutes of the enquiry shall be recorded in the general diary/station diary/daily diary of the police station.

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c)The police officer shall refrain himself or herself from harassing persons called upon for enquiry/investigation.

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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.

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6.With the above observations and direction, the Criminal Original Petition stands allowed.

Sd/-

Deputy Registrar(CS)

//True Copy//

Sub Assistant Registrar

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To 1. The Superintendent of Police, O/o. Superintendent of Police,

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Cuddalore District,

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Cuddalore.

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https://hcservices.ecourts.gov.in/hcservices/

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The Sub Inspector of Police, Sirupakkam Police Station, Cuddalore District, Cuddalore.

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The Public Prosecutor, High Court, Madras.

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+1cc to Mr.R.THIRUMOORTHY, Advocate, S.R.No. 18529

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Crl.O.P.No.7399 of 2018 TR(21/03/2018)

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https://hcservices.ecourts.gov.in/hcservices/

K.Gokulakrishnan, v. the Superintendent of Police

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

K.Gokulakrishnan, v. the Superintendent of Police

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

What the court decided

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