Petitioner sought directions under Section 482 Cr.P.C. to stop police harassment. Court issued guidelines requiring written summons under Section 160 Cr.P.C., diary recording, and adherence to Lalita Kumari guidelines.
Directions issued to police for written summons, diary recording of minutes, and adherence to Lalita Kumari guidelines.
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Crl.O.P.(MD).No.4626 of 2019
BEFORE THE MADURAI BENCH OF MADRAS HIGH COURT
DATED: 18.11.2019
CORAM:
THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE G.K.ILANTHIRAIYAN
Crl.O.P.(MD).No.4626 of 2019
A.Athimani
... petitioner
Vs.
1.The Commissioner of Police
Madurai City Police, Madurai. 2.The Inspector of Police Thirunagar Police Station, Madurai City.
3.The Sub Inspector of Police Thirunagar Police Station, Madurai City.
4.Jeyalakshmi ... Respondents
PRAYER : Criminal Original Petition is filed under Section 482 of Cr.P.C. to direct the first Respondent to directing the second & third Respondents herein not to harass the Petitioner and his family members under the guise of enquiry .
For petitioner : Mr.A.Prasanna Rajadurai
ORDER
The Criminal Original Petition has been filed to direct the respondents not to harass the Petitioner and his family members under the guise of enquiry.
2.The learned counsel appearing for the petitioner submits that the respondent police harassed the petitioner under the guise of enquiry.
3.The learned Government Advocate(Crl.Side) appearing for the respondent police submits that on the complaint given by the defacto complainant against the petitioner, petition enquiry is pending on the file of the respondent police
4.Heard the learned Counsel for the petitioner and learned Government Advocate(Crl.Side) for the respondent police.
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Crl.O.P.(MD).No.4626 of 2019
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.
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Crl.O.P.(MD).No.4626 of 2019
10.With the above observations and direction, the Criminal Original Petition stands disposed of.
Sd/-
Assistant Registrar(AD-II) // True Copy //
Sub Assistant Registrar(CS)
Ls To 1.The Commissioner of Police Madurai City Police, Madurai. 2.The Inspector of Police Thirunagar Police Station, Madurai City. 3.The Sub Inspector of Police Thirunagar Police Station, Madurai City. 4.The Additional Public Prosecutor, Madurai Bench of Madras High Court, Madurai.
+1CC TO MR.S.M.A.JINNAH, Advocate Sr. No. 99252 Crl.O.P.(MD).No.4626 of 2019 18.11.2019
KG(CO) TR(06.12.2019)3P 6C
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1 issue framed by the court
Whether the Court can issue directions to police officers to prevent harassment of a petitioner under the guise of investigation under Section 482 Cr.P.C.
Colour shows how this judgement treated each authority
Lalita Kumari Vs. Government of Uttar Pradesh and othersFollowed¶33
Lalita Kumari Vs. Government of Uttar Pradesh and others [2014 (2) SCC (1)] · Who else cites this
2 provisions across 1 enactments
A.Athimani
The Commissioner of Police
The Inspector of Police
The Sub Inspector of Police
Jeyalakshmi
G.K.ILANTHIRAIYAN
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
