PAWAN KUMAR vs THE STATE OF HARYANA - 2024-07-23

O R D E R

1. The petitioner had approached the High Court with a grievanc e that Haryana Police was not fairly and effectively investigatin g the offence of murder which led to his son’s unnatural death. Th e Writ Petition was disposed of on 29.10.2019 by a learned Judge o f the High Court recording that the final report had been submitte d by the prosecuting agency in the Court forming an opinion tha t offence under Section 304 of the Indian Penal Code,1860 is mad e out. The petitioner was, accordingly, relegated to the remed y before the Court where the final report had been submitted . Aggrieved by this order, the petitioner filed an application fo r recall. Vide order dated 20.11.2019, the learned Judge disposed o f the application holding that such application is not maintainabl e in view of the bar contained in Section 362 of the Code of Crimina l Procedure, 1973 (for short “the Cr.P.C”). The said orders date d 29.10.2019 and 20.11.2019 are challenged in the present Specia l Leave Petitions .

2. We find that a coordinate Bench of this Court while hearin g these petitions vide order dated 03.01.2022 had directed a s follows :

“2. In the facts and circumstances of the presen t case, we direct the DIG to personally verify all th e material which has been collected during the course o f the investigation and to apprise himself on whether th e investigation has been fair and proper. If the DIG find s that there has been any lacuna in the investigation, h e may constitute a proper team of officers for conducting a further investigation. The DIG shall look into th e objections which have been filed by the petitioner to th e report of the SIT .

3. The DIG shall file his affidavit before this Cour t within a period of eight weeks submitting a status repor t on the above aspects. ”

3. In deference to such order, a status report dated 28.02.202 2 has been filed by the Inspector General of Police, Karnal Range , Karnal. It is the 3rd status report filed in these proceedings .

4. Perusal of the 3rd status report reveals the satisfaction o f the Inspector General of Police that a Special Investigation Tea m (S.I.T.), which was constituted, had examined all the relevan t records pertaining to investigation including FSL report, DN A report, Polygraph test report, Chemical Examiner report, Scene o f crime team report, etc. The Inspector General of Police personall y examined/verified statements of the witnesses recorded unde r Section 161, Cr.P.C. during the course of investigation. Upo n perusal of the relevant records, the Inspector General of Polic e opined that the investigation had been conducted in a fair an d impartial manner and no lacuna was found in the investigatio n conducted by the S.I.T .

5. Despite such status report having been filed two and a hal f years back, no exception thereto has been taken by the petitioner .

6. In the light of the above, we are of the considered view tha t there is no valid reason to doubt the investigation that has bee n conducted, at least at this stage .

7. Submission of learned counsel for the petitioner that the Hig h Court had initially directed the Central Bureau of Investigatio n (C.B.I.) to take up investigation and that the C.B.I. ought to b e entrusted with the investigation loses much of its significance i n view of the aforesaid order of this Court dated 03.01.2022 reposin g faith and confidence in the Haryana Police .

8. If the police report under Section 173(2), Cr.P.C. has bee n filed before the jurisdictional court, it shall be up open to th e petitioner to pursue his remedy in accordance with law includin g filing an objection petition under Section 173(8), Cr.P.C., if s o advised. Should such petition be filed, the same shall b e considered on its own merits .

9. The Special Leave Petitions are disposed of with the aforesai d observations .

10. Pending application(s), if any, shall stand disposed of .

(VIJAY KUMAR) (SUDHIR KUMAR SHARMA )

COURT MASTER (SH) COURT MASTER (NSH )