The Magistrate has discretion in dealing with closure reports and various options available, and the court should not foreclose the Magistrate's power.

JUDGMENT

(Prayer: petition under Section 482 of the Criminal Procedure Code seeking to call for the records with regard to the referred charge sheet filed by the fourth respondent in R.C.S.No.2 of 2022 on the file of the Special Court for SC/ST Act, Vellore, set aside the same and transfer the case in Crime No.74 of 2022 from the file of the fourth respondent to the second respondent police for conducting a de novo investigation.)

1. This criminal original petition has been filed seeking to set aside the referred charge sheet notice served by the fourth respondent police and to transfer the case in Crime No.74 of 2022 from the file of the fourth respondent to the file of the second respondent with a direction to conduct a de novo investigation.

2. The case of the petitioner is as follows:

(i) Her son one Mr.Sarathkumar was humiliated by a police officer belonging to Melpadi Police Station, Vellore and as a result, her son immolated himself by setting ablaze near the police station and later died on 17.4.2022. A first information report came to be registered in Crime No.74 of 2022 initially under Section 309 of the Indian Penal Code (for brevity, the IPC) and thereafter, it was altered by including the offences under Sections 294(b) and 323 of the IPC read with Sections 3(1)(r) and (s) and 3(2)(va) of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (Act 33 of 1989).

(ii) The investigation was taken up by the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Katpadi and ultimately, a referred charge sheet was filed before the Special Court for Trial Cases under SC/ST Act (POA), Vellore (for short, the Court below) on 07.11.2022. The referred charge sheet notice was also served on the petitioner, who is the defacto complainant. Aggrieved by the same, the above criminal original petition has been filed before this Court.

3. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned Government Advocate appearing for respondents 1 to 6.

4. The learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that the Investigation Officer wanted to save the skin of the concerned police officer, who had abetted the commission of suicide by the son of the petitioner and a complete slipshod investigation was conducted in this case. According to him, the dying declaration of the victim - son of the petitioner and also the evidence of four other witnesses would clearly show that the offence had been committed and in spite of the same, the Investigation Officer had relied upon the statements given by some of the interested witnesses and chosen to file a closure report before the Court below. He also submitted that the investigation must be transferred to the Crime Branch Crime Investigation Department (CBCID) and the referred charge sheet notice served on the petitioner must be set aside.

5. Per contra, the learned Government Advocate (Criminal Side) appearing for respondents 1 to 6 submitted that an effective investigation has been conducted in this case and that immediately after the information was received by the police, the then Inspector of Police went to the scene of occurrence and prepared a rough sketch and an observation mahazar in the presence of witnesses. He would further submit that apart from the above, immediate arrangement was made for recording the dying declaration of the victim - son of the petitioner by the Judicial Magistrate concerned. He would also submit that the first information report was altered by including the offences under Sections 294B and 323 of the IPC read with Sections 3(1)(r) and (s) and 3(2)(va) of Act 33 of 1989 and that thereafter, immediately the investigation was also transferred to the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Katpadi based on the instructions given by the Superintendent of Police, Vellore on 13.4.2022.

6. This Court has carefully considered the submissions made by the learned counsel on either side and perused the materials available on record.

7. This Court we