{"id":119127,"date":"2021-07-16T18:21:42","date_gmt":"2021-07-16T12:51:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=119127"},"modified":"2021-07-16T18:21:42","modified_gmt":"2021-07-16T12:51:42","slug":"interference-an-investigating-officer-can-do-without","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/interference-an-investigating-officer-can-do-without\/","title":{"rendered":"Interference an investigating officer can do without"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Source<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: <a href=\"https:\/\/epaper.thehindu.com\/Home\/ShareArticle?OrgId=GUL8P7KN7.1&amp;imageview=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Hindu\u00a0<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Relevance<\/strong>: Separation of power is an important part of ensuring proper governance in the country.<\/p>\n<p><b>Synopsis<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Growing instances of judicial interference in an investigation are undesirable and also not sanctioned by law.<\/span><\/p>\n<h5><b>Background<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The death of George Floyd in the US in May 2020 and the horrific episode in Sattankulam, Tamil Nadu (killing a father and son) show acts of police brutality on the common citizens.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Such instances justify regulations on the police authority to investigate an established crime.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Further, lower courts and High courts are sometimes seen directing a police officer to arrest a particular person in a crime. It is perceived as an act of aiding the investigation. However, such acts should be avoided.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><b>Why should the Judiciary not intervene in a police investigation?<\/b><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>First<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, it amounts to intervention in the domain of the executive, as police are accountable to the elected representatives and not the judiciary. Hence, intervention is a <\/span><b>violation of the separation of powers.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Second<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">,\u00a0 persistent intervention enhances<\/span><b> public distrust over the police<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. This <\/span><b>reduces police morale <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">for working efficiently.\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In such a scenario, even a straightforward and law-abiding policeman will hardly be believed by the masses, thereby <\/span><b>undermining the ethics of criminal justice<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Third<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the court&#8217;s intervention shows a lack of faith in police ability and integrity. This will make<\/span><b> grass-root level policemen even more arbitrary than now<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and force them into carrying out questionable actions.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Fourth<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Court interference in the day-to-day investigation is not only undesirable but is also<\/span><b> not sanctioned by law<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) vests <\/span><b>sufficient discretion in the investigating officer <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">to make decisions on arrests and searches.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Fifth<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, there are <\/span><b>sufficient safeguards in the law to prevent abuse of power<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> by the police during the investigation.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Every investigation is supervised by at least two immediate senior officers. In the more important cases, there are a few more levels. It is their duty to ensure that every investigation is handled lawfully and impartially.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is mandatory that every police station in the land should register a complaint under the relevant sections of a statute the moment a cognizable offence is made out in the complaint.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The CrPC makes it obligatory for the investigating officer to write a diary that details the action taken every day following registration. To such a diary are attached witness statements.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><b>Suggestions:<\/b><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Intervention in the investigation should be curtailed in light of recent observation by the Supreme Court. It said that courts have no authority to direct an investigating officer to arrest any particular individual connected with a crime.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Courts should remember that the police dept. has a well-established hierarchy to ensure objectivity during a criminal investigation.<\/span><b>\u00a0<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, where supervisory officers fail in their duty because of sheer laziness or buckle under external pressure, they deserve to be pulled up by courts. But <\/span><b>not before they are found guilty of indifference or malfeasance.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Further, when in doubt, the competent court can demand to see <b>the case diary.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> If the content of such a diary establishes the complicity of an individual, the court can question an investigating officer as to what he proposed to do on the basis of such evidence.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Source: The Hindu\u00a0 Relevance: Separation of power is an important part of ensuring proper governance in the country. Synopsis:\u00a0Growing instances of judicial interference in an investigation are undesirable and also not sanctioned by law. Background: The death of George Floyd in the US in May 2020 and the horrific episode in Sattankulam, Tamil Nadu (killing&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/interference-an-investigating-officer-can-do-without\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Interference an investigating officer can do without<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10322,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[212,8424,255,225],"class_list":["post-119127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-gs-paper-2","tag-judicial-interference-in-investigations","tag-judiciary","tag-polity","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10322"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119127\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}