Madras HC sets aside closure of case against 3 cops

The Madras High Court set aside an order passed by Judicial Magistrate, Chengalpattu, allowing the closure of a case against police personnel attached to Guduvancherry police station without an FIR being filed against them.

As per the case, one Suresh had filed a complaint against the Guduvancherry police personnel-Sub-inspector Kadhiravan, two police constables Jana and Balaji and six known persons. The complaint was given on October 23, 2020 to the Superintendent of Police (SP), Chengalpattu District and the same was forwarded to the then Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Vandalur Sub Division, for enquiry. During the pendency of the enquiry, the petitioner filed a petition before the Judicial Magistrate No II, Chengalpattu seeking a direction to the Station House Officer, Guduvancherry Police Station to register an FIR against the accused. But the said petition was dismissed on November 7, 2020. Following this, the present plea was moved

It was also stated before the high court that based on the enquiry report and statement of witnesses, the complaint was closed on December 25, 2020. However, Justice P Velmurugan on pointing out that it is seen from the records that there is no proof to show that the DSP served the closure report to the petitioner, said “But the fact remains that they have not registered the First Information Report (FIR) and closed the complaint. The Magistrate failed to appreciate the allegations mentioned in the complaint and simply dismissed the petition.” Based on this, the Judge directed the SP, Chengalpattu District to forward the complaint to a DSP, other than the one who had closed the complaint and investigate the matter and file a report in the manner known to law.