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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Supreme Court raps govt lawyers, police for failed cases -Dhananjay Mahapatra

Supreme Court raps govt lawyers, police for failed cases -Dhananjay Mahapatra

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published Published on Jan 8, 2014   modified Modified on Jan 8, 2014
-The Times of India

 

NEW DELHI: In a first for the criminal justice administration, the Supreme Court has ordered fastening accountability on investigating officers and public prosecutors, saying they must face punishment if it was found that their deliberate lapses resulted in acquittal of the accused in cases involving serious offences.

"On the culmination of a criminal case in acquittal, the investigating or prosecuting officials responsible for such acquittal must necessarily be identified. A finding needs to be recorded in each case, whether the lapse was innocent or blameworthy," said a bench of Justice CK Prasad and Justice JS Khehar said on Tuesday.

"Each erring officer must suffer the consequences of his lapse, by appropriate departmental action, whenever called for. Taking into consideration the seriousness of the matter, the official concerned may be withdrawn from investigative responsibilities, permanently or temporarily, depending purely on his culpability," the bench said.

Writing the judgment for the bench, Justice Khehar said: "Accordingly we direct, the home department of every state government, to formulate a procedure for taking action against all erring investigating or prosecuting officials. All such erring officials/officers identified, as responsible for failure of a prosecution case, on account of sheer negligence or because of culpable lapses, must suffer departmental action."

"The above mechanism formulated would infuse seriousness in the performance of investigating and prosecuting duties, and would ensure that investigation and prosecution are purposeful and decisive," the bench said and asked the states to implement it in 6 months.

Rapist-killer freed

Justices Prasad and Khehar took this drastic step after being pained by lack of evidence leading to acquittal of a man from Ahmedabad who was accused of luring a six-year-old girl to the field, raping and then killing her, and severing her feet to steal hear anklets.

The trial court had found him guilty and awarded death sentence, but both the high court and the Supreme Court found the evidence woefully inadequate to declare the man guilty.

After upholding the HC order, the bench poured out its anguish. "The perpetrators of a horrendous crime, involving extremely ruthless and savage treatment to the victim, have remained unpunished. A heartless and merciless criminal, who has committed an extremely heinous crime, has gone scot-free. He must be walking around in Ahmedabad, or some other city/town in India, with his head held high. A criminal on the move. Fearless and fearsome."

"Fearless now, because he could not be administered the punishment he ought to have suffered. And fearsome on account of his having remained unaffected by the brutal crime committed by him. His actions now, know of no barriers. He could be expected to act in an unfathomable savage manner, incomprehensible to a sane mind," said Justice Khehar, who authored the judgment for the bench.

The bench said it was possible that this acquittal could mean an innocent person was saved from punishment but it could also be true that perpetrator of a heinous crime went scot free. Such situations must be remedied by fastening accountability on the investigating officer and the public prosecutor, it said.

"Adherence to a simple procedure could serve the objective. We accordingly direct, that on the completion of the investigation in a criminal case, the prosecuting agency should apply its independent mind, and require all shortcomings to be rectified, if necessary, by requiring further investigation. It should also be ensured that the evidence gathered during investigation is truly and faithfully utilized," it said.

 


The Times of India, 8 January, 2014, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Supreme-Court-raps-govt-lawyers-police-for-failed-cases/articleshow/28529470.cms


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