IMPORTANT POINT
High Court would not turn a blind eye to instances of harassment by police under guise of investigation when it is brought to its notice.

ORDER

A.D. Jagadish Chandira, J.—This petition has been filed seeking direction to direct the second respondent herein not to harass the petitioner in any manner except by due process of law.

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 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 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 notice specifying a particular date and time for appearing before them.

(b) The respondent police is directed to serve notice mentioning the CSR number, date of complaint and the name of the complainant.

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

(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.

(e) During the course of enquiry, if it is found that any cognizable offence is made out, the respondents are free to register the First Information Report and this order shall not be a shield for the petitioner against the action taken by the respondent in accordance with law.

10. With the above observations and direction, the Criminal Original Petition stands disposed of.