The Rajasthan High Court ordered the DG Police and Superintendent of Police to take the appropriate punishment after finding major flaws and inaccuracies in the investigation and charge sheet submitted by an IO in a case of dowry death. The Court noted that in the investigation of an offense as serious as dowry death, the IO had to maintain a high standard of accuracy and candour.
A spouse who was arrested for dowry death and was being held in jail applied for bail before the bench of Justice Rajendra Prakash Soni. According to the site plan and the description memo, the applicant claimed that his wife’s death was caused by a fall from the stairs, which resulted in a cardiac arrest. Therefore, there was insufficient proof against him to establish a clear connection between him and the offense or to identify the components of the crime.
Disagreeing with the applicant’s attorney’s arguments, the Court emphasized that none of the witness accounts recorded under Section 161, CrPC, mentioned the wife’s death as a result of a slide from the stairs. According to the Court, the IO, who was not an eyewitness to the incident and could not have described such an observation in the site plan, appeared to have imagined or assumed the fact. Based on this finding, the Court determined that it looked, at least on the surface, that the fact had been added to the file by the IO outside of the record in order to help the accused and undermine the complainant’s case.
Given these circumstances and the seriousness of the charge, the court denied the bail request. The Court further emphasized the errors in the inquiry and noted that these erroneous assumptions and findings have a substantial impact on the prosecution’s case. In light of this, the Court ordered that the directive be forwarded to the Superintendent of Police and the DG in order to obtain the information and take the appropriate measures.
“It was crucial for the investigating officer to maintain a high standard of accuracy and candour when looking into an offense like dowry-death. I.O. played a crucial role in the prosecution as well. Thus, a copy of the directive would be forwarded to the relevant S.P. and DG Police Rajasthan for information and appropriate action.
Prabhu Ram v State of Rajasthan, 2024 LiveLaw (Raj) 167
Aishwarya, B. A. L. Lb. (Hons), Mody University Of Science And Technology, Laxmangarh Intern At Legal VidhIya
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