Transferring Cases Routinely To CBI Demoralises State Police: Supreme Court
The Supreme Court has observed that routinely transferring cases to the Central Bureau of Investigation not only burdens the agency, but also has a demoralising impact on the officers of the state police.
The Court was hearing a Criminal Appeal by the state of West Bengal against a Calcutta High Court directing the CBI to probe the allegations of two women who claim they were tortured in police custody following their arrest over protests against the rape and murder of a doctor at R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata.
A two-Judge Bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, while constituting a Special Investigation Team comprising West Bengal police officers, held, "[T]he entrustment of investigation of matters routinely to the CBI not only leads to an unmanageable burden on the premier investigative agency of the country, but also has a very serious and far-reaching, demoralising impact on the officers of the State police."
Affirming its trust in Indian Police Service (IPS) officers, the Bench added, "It may not be prudent to proceed on the premise that Senior Officers, belonging to IPS and allocated to the West Bengal cadre, are incompetent or inefficient to hold a fair, independent and dispassionate investigation to find out the truth."
Senior Advocates Kapil Sibal and Gopal Sankaranarayanan appeared for the state of West Bengal. Senior Advocates Ranjit Kumar and Narender Hooda appeared for the Respondent-women.
On November 11, the Court stayed the October 8 Order of the High Court directing the CBI to investigate the case, while asking the state government to submit a list of seven IPS officers, including five women, to set up a SIT. Through its November 25 Order, the Court specified that the said SIT shall comprise three IPS officers: one Deputy Inspector General of Police, one Superintendent of Police and one Deputy Commissioner, Traffic department.
"All the records of the investigation shall be entrusted to the SIT during the course of the day." the Court ordered, adding that the SIT would resume the investigation without any delay and shall be at liberty to associate other police officers for its assistance. The Court ordered the SIT to furnish weekly status reports before the High Court at Calcutta and requested the Chief Justice of the High Court to constitute a Bench before whom the SIT would submit its reports and seek further directions
"The impugned Judgment of the High Court is, accordingly, modified/set aside," the Court declared, clarifying that the observations made by the High Court in the Judgment shall not be construed as an expression on the merits of the allegations contained in the FIR, and the SIT shall investigate the same free from these observations.
The alleged victims may approach the SIT to ensure that no harm is caused to their life and liberty and the SIT will take the necessary steps in this regard without any delay, the Court stated.
Cause Title: State Of West Bengal v. Rebeka Khatun Molla alias Rebeka Molla [Criminal Appeal 4744/2024]
Appearance:
Appellant: Senior Advocates Kapil Sibal and Gopal Sankaranarayanan; Advocates Sanjay Basu, Astha Sharma, Somen Mohanty, Aprajita Jamwal, Shreyas Awasthi, Aditi Gupta, Tushar Shrivastava and Ripul Swati Kumari
Respondents: Senior Advocates Ranjit Kumar and Narender Hooda; Advocates Jai Anant Dehadrai, Siddhartha Sinha, Rahul G Tanwani, Abhijeet, Arijit Bakshi, Siddharth Sharma and Md. Tasnimul Hassan
Click here to read/download the Order
