‘Shun casual approach, ensure prompt probe’
ALLAHABAD: The Allahabad high court has directed the police to shun its casual approach towards heinous crimes and lodge cases of rape even on slightest suspicion.
In particular, police should waste no time in cases where the victims were minor girls and had been murdered, ruled a division bench of justice Vineet Saran and justice Bachu Lal while disposing of a criminal appeal of Nem Singh, who had been awarded death penalty by a sessions court for rape and murder of a ten-year-old girl in Mainpuri on April 16, 2004. The court had acquitted another accused in the same case. The state had then filed an appeal against this order.
Stressing that police should not delay medical examination of the victim and accused, the court said opinion of a registered medical doctor should be taken into consideration while lodging a case.
“The investigating officer, under no circumstances, should delay the medical examination of either the victim or the accused,” ruled the court while directing the investigating offi- cers to make no delay in recording the victim’s statement, making entries about injuries, age and DNA test of all the materials found at the place of crime.
The court also cautioned the police to follow provisions made in law and take all possible legal and scientific action in such cases within maximum 24 hours.
NEW DELHI: The government will decide its future course of action on the SC judgments on immediately disqualifying convicted MPs/MLAs and banning those in lawful custody from contesting elections after consulting various political parties, since these verdicts will have widespread ramifications on the country’s politics.
“These judgments are very important and will have a major impact on politics of the country.
We will hold consultations with different political parties to decide what further action is required to be taken,” law minister Kapil Sibal said.
Sibal, however, made it clear that the government has not taken any stand on the issue yet, though some political parties have contacted him and expressed their opposition to the SC judgment banning those in police or judicial custody from contesting elections.
Congress and BJP were examining the judgment and their detailed response on the verdict is awaited. The CPI(M) on Friday demanded that the government should seek a review of this judgment which was a clear case of “judicial overreach and will infringe upon the democratic rights of citizens.” Sources in the government said the judgment suffered from “serious legal infirmities” and did not reflect the spirit of the constitution.
“The judgment appears to be based on an erroneous inter- pretation of the Representation of People’s Act and there is a widespread apprehension of its misuse.
“Voting is a right guaranteed to any citizen by the Constitution, subject to reasonable restrictions.
It can be suspended in some conditions but cannot be terminated. Using such a logic to deny people from contesting elections will lead to a serious situation,” the source said.
The government is analyzing all three judgments of the SC related to election laws over the past week – direction to the EC on election manifestos, immediate disqualification of convicted MPs/MLAs and now the ban on those in custody from contesting elections.
The division bench, while hearing both the appeals, found that there were doubts against both the accused in the rape and murder case because the police had carried out investigation in a “non serious and cursory manner.”
The court also concluded that policemen could have easily gathered proof against the accused in case they had carried out the investigation properly.
The accused had allegedly strangled the victim to death with the help of a cotton towel. The girl’s body was found in a field.
The police did much dillydallying in lodging a rape case even after the postmortem report had clearly indicated murder by strangulation after rape. Later, the investigating officer also wasted much time in getting scientific investigation of the material that was found on the spot.