The court's power to transfer investigations to CBI is limited to rare and exceptional cases where there is evidence of tainted investigation or exceptional circumstances warranting such a transfer.

JUDGMENT :

M. Sathyanarayanan, J.

(Prayer: Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying for issuance of a Writ of Mandamus to handover the investigation to CBI in respect of the suicidal deaths caused from the year 2006 onwards in IIT-Madras, on the basis of the representation given by the petitioner dated 23.11.2019 and pass further orders.)

1. The petitioner claims to be the National President of Loktantarik Yuva Janathadal, Kerala and in the affidavit filed in support of the writ petition, he would aver among other things that from the year 2006 onwards, 14 students had committed suicide in IIT Campus and as far as the death of Fathima Lateef is concerned, there is religious discrimination and she faced harassment at the hands of some of the professors and in her mobile phone, she had named some professors in messages and despite that not even disciplinary action has been initiated against the professors concerned by the Management of IIT.

2. The petitioner would further aver that the present investigation done by the Additional Commissioner of Police, Central Crime Branch, Chennai city may not be fair in respect of such serious offence and that apart, it is high time that IIT, Madras Campus shall put some proper and effective mechanism in place to give periodical counseling to students and also identify students who exhibit symptoms to take away their own life. The petitioner, in this regard, has also submitted a representation dated 23.11.2019 to the official respondents and despite receipt and acknowledgment, no response is forthcoming and hence, came forward to file this writ petition.

3. Mr.D.Rajagopal, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner would submit that the deceased Fatima Lateef, who admittedly had excellent academic career, faced religious discrimination at the hands of some of the professors working in IIT, Madras Campus and the cell phone, which was the subject matter of investigation was seized, wherein she had named some professors in messages as to the continued harassment meted out to her and despite such specific instances, IIT administration is yet to initiate any disciplinary action against them and that apart, investigation also is not proceeding on right lines for the reason that IIT, being a premier educational institution, is putting up pressure as the issue involves their reputation also. It is also the submission of the learned counsel appearing for the petitioner that suicides of students studying in IIT, Madras becoming a routine affair and it is high time that proper and effective mechanism shall be put in place to prevent such kind of occurrences and in the light of controversies generated and conflicting opinion as to whether the death of Fathima Lateef was due to suicide or homicidal hanging and in order to ensure fair, proper and effective investigation, it shall be entrusted to CBI. The learned counsel appearing for the petitioner, in support of his submissions, has placed reliance on the following decisions:

(i) Mithilesh Kumar Singh v. State of Rajasthan and Others [(2015) 9 SCC 795]

(ii) E.Sivakumar v. Union of India and Others [2018 (7) SCC 365].

4. Per contra, Mr.A.N.Thambidurai, learned Special Government Pleader appearing for the respondents 2 to 4 would submit that between 2008 and 2019, 16 students had committed suicide by hanging and it may on account of the fact that they are unable to withstand the pressure to perform better and other related issues and insofar as the investigation is concerned, all relevant materials have been collected and subject to rigorous scrutiny and in the absence of any specific allegation as to malafide, investigation cannot be transferred to CBI at the threshold and prays for dismissal of this writ petition.

5. This Court has paid it’s best attention to the rival submissions and also perused the entire materials placed before it.

6. Kotturpuram Police Station has registered a case with regard to the demise of Fathima Lateef