The Single Judge Bench of the Madras High Court, comprising Justice G. K. Ilanthiraiyan in the case of Kannan v. The Commissioner of Police Madurai City has observed that the term 'harassment' by itself has a very wide meaning and hence, what could be harassment to the petitioner may not be the same to the police officer.
Submission of the Petitioner
The Counsel on the behalf of the Petitioner has submitted that the respondent police harassed the petitioner under the guise of enquiry.
Submission of the Respondent
The learned Additional Government Pleader appearing for the respondent police submits that on the complaint given by the defacto complainants against the petitioner, petition enquiry is pending on the file of the respondent police.
Reasoning and Decision of the Court
The Court considered the prayer of the petitioner through which he has invoked the inherent powers of this Court under Section 482 of Cr.P.C. On the perusal of the prayer, The Court expounded that this Court, exercising its power under Section 482 of the Criminal Procedure Code normally would not interfere with the investigation conducted by a police officer. Nevertheless, it would also not turn a blind eye to instances of harassment by the police under the guise of investigation is brought to its notice.
On the Petitioner’s complaint on harassment by the Respondent Police, the Court issues following directions:
a) While summoning any person named in the complaint or any witness to the incident complained of, the police officer shall summon such person through a written summon under Section 160 Cr.P.C., specifying a particular date and time for appearing before them for such an enquiry/investigation.
b) The respondent police is directed to serve summons mentioning the CSR number, date of complaint and the name of the complainant
c) The minutes of the enquiry shall be recorded in the general diary/station diary/daily diary of the police station.
d) The police officer shall refrain himself or herself from harassing persons called upon for enquiry/investigation.
e) The guidelines stipulated for preliminary enquiry or registration of FIR by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Lalita Kumari Vs. Government of Uttar Pradesh and others [2014 (2) SCC (1)] shall be strictly adhered to.
Therefore after issuing the following directions, the Court disposed of the Criminal Petition.
Case Details
Case: - Crl.O.P.(MD) No.3565 of 2022
Petitioner: - Kannan
Respondent: - The Commissioner of Police Madurai City
Judge: Justice G. K. Ilanthiraiyan
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