Delhi High Court Cautions Delhi Police, UP Police For Conducting ‘Terrible Investigation’, Upholds Acquittals In Murder Case

While upholding the acquittal of five accused persons in 2015 in a murder case registered way back in 1998, the Delhi High Court has cautioned the Delhi Police and Uttar Pradesh Police for conducting “terrible investigation.”

A division bench of Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Neena Bansal Krishna said that both the investigating agencies “mechanically investigated” the FIR which was registered in 1998 wherein the accused persons were acquitted in 2015 and thus, faced “ordeal of long trial and suffered loss of time, energy and reputation” which cannot be compensated in terms of money or otherwise.

“The torment suffered by the respondents/accused cannot be compensated in terms of money or otherwise, however, in the considered opinion of this Court, interest of justice would be met if State of NCT of Delhi and State of UP are cautioned for conducting terrible investigation,” the court said.

The bench also expressed displeasure against the prosecution for filing an appeal against the acquittal “oblivious of no evidence at all on record” against the accused persons.

“Even otherwise, we are constraint to note that we have come across a good number of cases where there is no merit, still appeals are filed, which causes loss to the public ex-chequer and precious public time and money of the Courts is wasted. The prosecution is accordingly cautioned to be vigilant and fair while taking decision to file appeal against the judgment/order of acquittal,” the court said.

The court dismissed the petitions filed by the complainant Tek Chand and the prosecution seeking leave to appeal against the acquittal order passed by the trial court.

The accused namely Ashok (Proclaimed Offender), Shobha Ram, Yogesh, Rakesh and Rukamesh were acquitted for the offences punishable under Sections 147, 148, 302, 452 & 506 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860.

Chand, in his FIR, alleged that the accused persons, who were armed with weapons, confronted him and his brothers and said that despite being relatives, they were helping the murderers of their father.

It was Chand’s case that despite trying to clarify the position and claiming that there was some misunderstanding, the accused persons did not trust them and started firing indiscriminately to murder them. As per the FIR, Chand’s two brothers and a villager died on the spot, another villager sustained injuries and others fled away to save their lives.

While the investigation was in progress, the case was transferred to Crime-Branch Crime Investigation Department (CBCID) on an application moved by accused Ashok who was later declared a proclaimed offender.

The trial court acquitted the accused persons for lack of proof, accepted their plea of alibi and gave them the benefit of doubt.

Upholding their acquittal, the bench said that the testimony of three prosecution witnesses i.e. Deputy S.P., Constable and a Sub Inspector, as well as a defence witness who was a Retired Jailor proved that on the date of incident, accused persons namely Yogesh, Shobha Ram and Ashok were lodged in jail and could not have possibly been present at the scene of crime or be the perpetrators thereof.

The court also said that no corroborative evidence could be collected by the prosecution as no weapon of offence was recovered to connect the accused persons with the incident.

“In view of the clinching evidence on record, as noted and observed hereinabove, the case in hand is glaring case of false implications of the respondents/accused but also a unlawful investigation conducted by Ghaziabad, UP police and CBID. The evidence placed on record clearly proves that respondents Ashok, Shobha Ram and Yogesh were in District Jail, Mujaffarnagar, UP on the date of alleged incident and no recovery of weapon was affected in this case,” the court said.

Case Title: TEK CHAND v. STATE OF U P & ORS. and other connected matters

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Del) 818

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