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1995 Supreme(AP) 458

Andhra Pradesh High Court
Judges : C.V.N.SASTRY, P.S.MISHRA
K.G.Kannabiran - Appellant
Versus
Chief Secretary, Government Of A.P., Hyderabad - Respondent
Decided On : 08-14-95

The main legal point established in the judgment is the duty of the police to register cases for investigation in cases of homicide and the authority to direct an independent agency, such as the CBI, to investigate allegations of human rights violations.

Headnote:

HOMICIDE - POLICE ENCOUNTER - CRIMINAL PROCEDURE CODE, SECTION 41, 46 - INVESTIGATION PROCEDURE - HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION - CBI INVESTIGATION

Fact of the Case:

The court addressed an oral application regarding the identification of a deceased alleged Naxalite and subsequent events. The deceased was identified as Madhusudan Raj Yadav, and a regular application was made seeking an inquiry into his killing, notification of Human Rights Courts, and production of certain individuals before a Judicial First class Magistrate.

Finding of the Court:

The court found that the police were duty-bound to register a case for investigation in cases of homicide and ordered the body to be kept in the mortuary until identified. It also directed the Director General of Police to ensure the body was not interfered with and permitted the identification by the deceased's family members and an advocate.

Issues: The issues included the identification of the deceased, the circumstances of the alleged encounter, and the subsequent legal actions sought by the petitioner.

Ratio Decidendi: The court emphasized the duty of the police to register cases for investigation in cases of homicide and ordered the investigation to be conducted by an independent agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), due to the allegations of human rights violations.

Final Decision: The court directed the Government of Andhra Pradesh to entrust the case to the CBI and ordered the CBI to submit all investigation reports to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Hyderabad, within three months.

P. S. MISHRA, C. J, J.

( 1 ) SRI K. G. Kannabiran, a practising Advocate of this Court and the President of the Peoples Union for Civil Liberties made on 27-7-1995 an oral application and referred to a news item of morning city edition of the Newspaper indian express that an unidentified Peoples War Group (PWG) Naxalite was shot dead by the police in an alleged encounter near Ashoknagar under musheerabad police limits late on Wednesday night i. e. , 26/27 July night. Sri Kannabiran stated that he had information that one T. Madhusudanraj yadav, a trade-union leader, was reportedly missing since the alleged encounter and sought Court s intervention for enabling his (T. Madhusudanraj yadav s) wife and other members of his family to identify the body of the alleged unidentified Peoples War Group Naxalite. The body of the alleged naxalite was reportedly in the mortuary of Gandhi Medical Hospital, secunderabad. The Court ordered as follows:"it goes with the duty of the police and it needs no reiteration that every case of homicide in whatever circumstances it occurs has to be registered as a case for investigation and the police for the said reason is duty-bound to make all efforts to secure the identification of the victim of the homicide. Since no formal application has been made and there is no appearance before us of any person on behalf of the State, it is not possible for us to know whether police has registered a case and has taken steps to secure the identification of the victim of the homicide or not. We, however, see justification in the prayer made on behalf of Smt. Swarna and Sri T. Neelakantha Raj Yadav and the submissions of Sri k. G. Kannabiran for immediate order of the Court (1) that the Director General of Police, Andhra Pradesh and the commissioner of Police, City of Hyderabad, shall ensure that the body of the alleged Naxalite which is kept in the mortuary in Gandhi medical Hospital, Secunderabad, is not interfered with and kept in the mortuary until Smt. Swarna and Sri T. Neelakantha Raj Yadav, the wife and father of Sri. T. Madhusudan Raj Yadav, are permitted to see the dead body and accordingly identify whether the dead body is of T. Madhusudan Raj Yadav or of some other person: (2) that the Superintendent, Gandhi Medical Hospital, Secunderabad, is directed to keep the dead body of the alleged naxalite in the Mortuary and not to permit anyone to remove the body from the mortuary until further orders of the Court; and (3) Sri K. G. Kannabiran, Advocate, is permitted to accompany Smt, swarna and Sri. T. Neelakantha Raj Yadav and be present at the time of the identification of the dead body by them. "

( 2 ) AS ordered by us on 27-7-1995, the oral application has been numbered as a writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India and the report in the newspaper aforementioned has been treated as a part of the petition. Since our order above, the dead body of the alleged naxalite has been identified as that of Madhusudan Raj Yadav and Sri K. G. Kannabiran has made a regular application seeking, inter alia, a direction by the Court to the Sessions Judge to conduct enquiry into the killing of Madhusudan Raj and submit a report to this Court within a fixed time frame, a direction to the Government to notify sessions Judges as Human Rights Courts to take cognizance of all cases of human rights violations as provided for in Section 30 of Protection of Human rights Act and for a direction to the Director General of Police, Government of Andhra Pradesh, to cause production of four persons, namely, Lingamurthy, m. S. Shyamala, Syamala Rao and one more woman before any Judicial First class Magistrate forthwith.

( 3 ) ON 28-7-1995, we passed an order seeking informations: (1) About all Station Diary entries and/or entries in the movement registers of the police officers of District Warangal for their presence on 26/27-7-1995 in the City of Hyderabad; (2) Whether any report was made at Musheerabad Police Stati












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