High Courts should exercise restraint in directing the mandatory filing of charge sheets or imposing strict timelines during investigation to preserve the investigating officer's discretion, unless there is evident stagnation or unexplained delay infringing the right to a speedy trial under Article 21.

The Court made the following:

ORDER:

The Writ Petition has been filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India seeking the following relief:-

“…to issue a Writ, order or direction more particularly one in the nature of Writ of Mandamus, declaring the action of the 3rd respondent in not investigating the crime by No31/2022 U/S 174 dated 17-7-2022 is as illegal, arbitrary, unjust and unconstitutional and consequently direct the 3rd respondent to investigate the Crime, by No31/2022 U/S 174 and dated 17-7-2022…”

Heard the learned counsel for the Petitioner and the learned Assistant Government Pleader.

Mr. N.V.R. Amarnath, learned counsel for the Petitioner, submits that although the complaint lodged by the Petitioner was registered as a case in F.I.R. No. 31 of 2022, dated 17.07.2022, on the file of Narasaraopet Police Station, G.R.P.Vijayawada, for the alleged offences punishable under Sections 174 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (for brevity, ‘the Cr.P.C.,’) by Respondent No.4, he has failed to proceed with the investigation and has not taken any steps to file the charge sheet.

Sri P.Ajay Babu, learned Assistant Government Pleader, on written instructions, submits that the investigation is at progressive stage, charge sheet would be filed after completion of the investigation.

Be that as it may, the Respondent No.4 is duty bound to conduct a thorough, fair, impartial and effective investigation and conduct the investigation to the logical end as per the procedure.

In this regard, it is apposite to refer the judgment of the Hon’ble Apex Court in A. Shankar v. State , 2026 SCC OnLine SC 120, wherein at paragraph Nos.15 and 20, it is held as under:

15. If the high court directs, at a stage prior to conclusion of investigation, that a charge-sheet has invariably to be fled upon closure of investigation in a particular case irrespective of what the materials are which have been collected during investigation and without allowing the investigating officer to form his own opinion as regards the next course of action, that would take away the discretion of such officer and he would be left with no other option but to proceed in the direction as required by the high court under pain of threat of contempt. Other than very extreme cases, the high courts ought to exercise restraint and not issue such directions which foreclose the discretion of the executive.

20. However, if the high court proceeds to make a direction that charge-sheets should be fled upon conclusion of investigation or that a trial should be concluded within a particular time-frame, without even attempting to ascertain the stage the trial has reached, the consequence of such an order could be far-reaching. The concept of a fair trial could be rendered a casualty. Directions of the nature made by the learned Judge amounts to improper exercise of writ jurisdiction and such an approach cannot but be disapproved by us.

Therefore, in A. Shankar supra, the Hon’ble Supreme Court held that the High Court should not, at the stage of investigation, direct the filing of a charge-sheet, as it would curtail the discretion of the investigating officer and amount to an improper exercise of jurisdiction. It was further held that issuing directions to file charge-sheets or to conclude trials within a fixed timeframe, without considering the stage of the proceedings, may prejudice a fair trial and is liable to be disapproved.

Further, it is apposite to refer the judgment of the Hon’ble Apex Court in State of U.P. v. Mohd. Arshad Khan , 2025 SCC OnLine SC 2894, wherein at paragraph Nos.9 to 11, it is held as under:

9. In exercise of these wide-ranging powers - was it justified to direct time bound completion of investigation? The investigation of an offence is a long, winding road. It is full of ups and downs and is not, possibly, even for a moment, predictable in the true sense. There can be delays in the investigation, witnesses who at one point in time appeared con