Supreme Court Pulls Up Punjab Police Over Poor Investigation In Unnatural Death Of Wife; Constitutes SIT

Pulling up the State of Punjab over its shoddy investigation in the murder case of a woman, the Supreme Court today directed the constitution of a Special Investigation Team of Punjab cadre officials not belonging to the state to probe the matter.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh passed the order, directing the Punjab Director General of Police to constitute the SIT within 1 week, which shall comprise two IPS officers of Punjab cadre not having roots in the state and one woman officer of the rank of DySP (or above).

The Court was of the view that the victim died an "unnatural death" and had there been a timely investigation to complete the chain of circumstances, the investigation would have reached a logical conclusion.

"we find that the state police has failed to investigate the matter in a dispassionate, fair and just manner...the transferring of investigation to the Crime Branch, after the chargesheet had already been filed is also a strange action, which cannot be countenanced, because once chargesheet has been filed, it is the prerogative of the Court to consider whether or not further investigation is required", noted the order.

The petitioner (father of the victim) had filed the instant case aggrieved by Punjab and Haryana High Court's grant of bail to respondent No.2 (husband of the victim). While the family was residing in Amritsar, the victim allegedly had an extra-marital relationship with a neighbor, who pressured her into marrying him. However, she did not succumb to the pressure and relocated alongwith respondent No.2 to Gurdaspur. In 2020, the victim was found dead with several injuries on her body and postmortem confirmed that it was a case of "unnatural death".

While respondent No.2 did not get any FIR registered, it was the victim's father who filed a murder case. Though the neighbor (with whom the victim allegedly had extra-marital relationship) and his mother were initially suspected, the Investigating Officer eventually did not find any corroborating material. At some point, respondent No.2 was arrested and chargesheet filed. However, the investigation was transferred to Crime Branch, which exonerated respondent No.2. In this backdrop, respondent No.2 was granted bail by the High Court vide the impugned order.

Before the Supreme Court, the petitioner assailed not only the grant of bail to respondent No.2, but also the manner of investigation conducted in the case. On 08.09.2021, the Court issued limited notice in the matter to ascertain the status of further investigation.

Today, Senior Counsel for the petitioner informed that no status report had been filed despite the Court's order of 2021. "What is happening in your state!? Unnatural death has taken place...clear case of murder...for last how many years, you have not been able to...?", Justice Kant posed to counsel appearing for State of Punjab.

The state counsel submitted that he was marked the matter only last night and sought time to file a comprehensive status report within 1 week. The bench however was inclined to dispose of the matter while directing constitution of an SIT. In doing so, it did not find any ground to interfere with the grant of bail to respondent No.2 and called out the state police over its poor investigation.

Case Title: DEEPAK GUPTA Versus THE STATE OF PUNJAB AND ANR., SLP(Crl) No. 6899/2021