High Court Pulls Up Delhi Police For ‘Terrible And Unfair Investigation’, Directs State To Pay ₹50K Compensation Each To Two Accused

Pulling up the Delhi Police for conducting “terrible and unfair investigation”, the Delhi High Court has acquitted two accused persons and awarded them Rs. 50,000 compensation each, since the prosecution “floated trial” despite lack of evidence against them.

A division bench of Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Neena Bansal Krishna gave a word of caution to the prosecution agencies to carry out investigation in a prudent manner and said that the trial courts are expected to judiciously assess the material placed on record, “so that no innocent has to bear the torment of incarceration.”

The court was dealing with an appeal moved by the prosecution against the acquittal of grandmother and father of a two-year-old girl, for committing the minor’s murder.

The girl, whose custody was handed over to her father after a settlement with the mother, died after she felt giddiness and fell in the house. She was declared dead in the hospital.

The Post Mortem Report of the child revealed 24 ante mortem external injuries and the cause of death was empty stomach and shock. An FIR was then registered against the grandmother and the father under Section 302 (murder) of Indian Penal Code and Section 23 (cruelty to juvenile or child) of Juvenile Justice Act. It was alleged that the grandmother tortured the child by beating her and not giving her food.

While the trial court acquitted the two accused for the offence of murder, it convicted them for the offence of Section 23 of Juvenile Justice Act, observing that no efforts were made by them for the treatment the girl child who suffered from a skin disease.

Observing that the trial court erred in convicting them under Section 23 of Juvenile Justice Act, the bench acquitted the accused and said that the prosecution failed to prove that they were guilty of the offence.

The bench noted that the father of the child was not present at the place of incident and was on his workplace to earn his livelihood when the minor fell and got unconscious, which turned out to be fatal.

“It is relevant to note here that at the said time, the victim child was in the care of her grandmother (dadi) who, being the only female member in the family and belonging to poor strata, was busy doing household chores,” the court noted further.

It added, “In the considered opinion of this Court, the first and primary responsibility to take care of the child is of the parents and not grandparents, however, since mother had abandoned the victim child to the custody of father, who was away from the place of incident for work to earn his livelihood, the grandmother, was taking care of victim child. It would be misplaced to assume here that the respondent deliberately neglected the child when she fell down.”

The bench also said that the recovery of an iron rod used for hot water and danda from the house of the accused persons did not link the incident to prove that any injury or harm was caused to the victim child.

“Even Constable Joginder Singh (PW-6) in his cross examination has deposed before the Court that no objectionable article like danda, lathi etc were found from the place of incident. It seems the iron rod and danda were planted by lady Constable Babita (PW-13). Moreover, no blood stains or marks were present at the crime spot,” the court said.

While disposing of the matter, the court further cautioned the prosecution department to not file appeals in a casual manner in case where there is no material on record to establish that the trial court has acted in totally disarray.

It said that such type of cases cause loss to the public ex-chequer, precious public time of the courts, energy and time of the prosecution which otherwise can be utilized for the good cause.

“In the case under consideration, we find that no word can comfort the agony of respondents-accused; however, ends of justice would be met if respondents are compensated at the cost of prosecution. We hereby direct the appellant-State to pay compensation of Rs.50,000/- each to both the accused within four weeks. With directions as aforesaid, the present appeal is accordingly disposed of,” the court ordered.

Case Title: STATE v. USHA DEVI & ANR.

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Del) 725

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