Police must register an FIR immediately when information discloses a cognizable offence. Failure to do so constitutes a dereliction of duty, warranting judicial intervention.

JUDGMENT

ANUP JAIRAM BHAMBHANI J.

The present petition represents a sister‟s plea for proper investigation into the death of her 20-year-old brother - Harsh Kumar Sharma - who never returned after leaving home in Delhi on the morning of 03.12.2024, only to be found dead late that night in an obscure location in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh.

BRIEF FACTS

2. Briefly, the unfortunate episode leading-up to the filing of the present petition has unfolded as follows:

2.1. The petitioner‟s brother left home at about 09:30 hours on 03.12.2024 driving his own car to attend college in Noida, Uttar Pradesh; and when he did not return later that day, the petitioner and her mother tried reaching him on his mobile numbers but with no success despite having made countless calls to him. This led to the petitioner‟s mother calling the PCR on the numbers 100 and 112 at about 19:44 hours on 03.12.2024 to report that her son had gone missing. In response to the call, two police officers from P.S.: Moti Nagar, New Delhi reached the petitioner‟s residence and after making some preliminary inquiries, they asked the family members to come to the police station to lodge a formal complaint, which they did.

2.2. Eventually, the Delhi Police registered a missing person‟s complaint vide GD No. 0143A at about 21:15 hours at P.S.: Moti Nagar, New Delhi. The police subsequently tracked the cell phone location of the petitioner‟s brother, which led them to a service lane, near RCI Hostel, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh at about 23:30 hours, where they found the petitioner‟s brother in his car bearing registration number DL-8C-BF-2888, holding the steering wheel but showing no movement. The persons present at the spot broke the side-window of the car, opened it, and pulled-out the petitioner‟s brother.

2.3. The officer from the Delhi Police who was accompanying the petitioner and her family took photographs and video-graphed the car; and upon opening the car found a carbon monoxide cylinder in it. Most importantly, the brother‟s face was red and swollen and there were visible red spots on his body. The petitioner‟s brother was rushed to Kailash Hospital, Greater Noida.

2.4. In the meantime, the brother‟s bag and mobile phone(s) were removed from the car; and in the bag, they found a diary, on the first page of which there was a handwritten note which read : “IF YOU WANT TO MEET THIS PERSON, HE IS DEAD”. The car is stated to have been left at the spot where it was found, as advised by the police.

2.5. The doctors at Kailash Hospital, Greater Noida declared the petitioner‟s brother „brought dead‟ at about 01:00 a.m. on 04.12.2024. Thereafter, the officer from the Delhi Police who was accompanying the petitioner and her family members escorted them to P.S.: Knowledge Park, Uttar Pradesh, where the U.P. Police registered the incident as an unnatural death vide GD No.002 at 01:56 hours on 04.12.2024. The petitioner states that at that point, the police officers at P.S.: Knowledge Park were shown the hand-written note found in the brother‟s diary and they assured the petitioner and her family members that senior officers would investigate the matter.

2.6. On the next day i.e., on 04.12.2024 at about 08:00 hours, the petitioner alongwith her relatives reached Kailash Hospital, where the brother‟s body was kept in the mortuary. S.I. Rahul Kumar and one other police officer from P.S.: Knowledge Park also reached the hospital at about 09:15 hours; they video- graphed the dea