Delhi High Court
Karnail Singh vs Uoi & Ors. on 1 July, 2010
Author: Hima Kohli
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
+ W.P.(CRL) 82/2004
Decided on 01.07.2010
IN THE MATTER OF :
KARNAIL SINGH ..... Petitioner
Through: Mr. Govind N. Kaushik with
Mr.Keshav Kaushik, Advocates
versus
UOI & ORS. ..... Respondents
Through: Mr. Sanjeev Bhandari, Advocate for
respondents No.2 and 3 with Inspector S.P. Gupta,
SHO, Police Station: IGIA.
CORAM
* HON'BLE MS.JUSTICE HIMA KOHLI
1. Whether Reporters of Local papers may No
be allowed to see the Judgment?
2. To be referred to the Reporter or not? No
3. Whether the judgment should be No
reported in the Digest?
HIMA KOHLI, J. (Oral)
1. The present writ petition was filed by the petitioner, on
22.01.2004 seeking various reliefs against the respondents. Initially six
reliefs had been enumerated in the prayer clause of the petition. However,
during the pendency of the present petition, the petitioner has confined the
relief in the present petition to prayer (b) alone, which is for directions to the
respondents to register a FIR against Shri Rajindar Singh, the husband of
Ikvinder Kaur, the deceased daughter of the petitioner, his cousin and other
relatives and for directions to the Commissioner of Police to take appropriate
action against them in accordance with law.
2. Counsel for the respondents No.2 and 3 states that in the
present case, a zero FIR was registered by the Delhi Police/respondent No.2,
on 29.01.2004, pursuant to an order of the even date passed by this Court.
He further states that Delhi Police does not have any territorial jurisdiction to
investigate the present case as the deceased daughter of the petitioner was
a resident of District Ludhiana in Punjab, her marriage took place in Punjab
from where, she left with her husband to Manila, Philippines. Thereafter, the
deceased and her husband were residing in Manila, when she expired on
14.01.2004. It is stated by the counsel for the respondents No.2 and 3 on
the basis of the status reports placed on the record, that a zero FIR was
registered in terms of the directions of the High Court to facilitate the post
mortem examination of the dead body of the deceased daughter of the
petitioner, and after the post-mortem was conducted at Safdarjung Hospital,
her body was released to the petitioner. Later on, the zero FIR was
forwarded alongwith the post mortem report to the SSP, District Ludhiana,
to investigate the case, at the request of the petitioner.
3. It is argued on behalf of the respondent that the factum of
registration of the zero FIR by the respondent No.2/Delhi Police on
29.01.2004, was well within the knowledge of the petitioner, who thereafter
approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court and filed a petition under
Section 482 Cr.PC for directions to be issued to the SSP, District Ludhiana to
register a FIR against the accused persons under Section 498A/304B IPC on
account of the purported unnatural death of his daughter, Ikwinder Kaur.
Vide order dated 15.03.2005, a Single Judge of the aforesaid Court opined
that in view of the fact that a FIR had already been registered at Delhi, no
further directions were required in the matter.
4. In view of the fact that the petitioner and his deceased daughter
were both residents of District Ludhiana, the marriage of the deceased was
performed in District Ludhiana, from where, she and her husband left Punjab
for Manila, Philippines, it appears that no cause of action arose in the
territorial jurisdiction of Delhi, for the investigation to be carried out by the
Delhi Police.
5. Mere registration of a zero FIR by the Delhi Police on the
directions passed by this Court, in the light of the submission of the
petitioner that it would facilitate the post mortem examination of the dead
body of the deceased Ikvinder Kaur and for release of her dead body by the
Hospital, cannot be considered sufficient in itself to confer territorial
jurisdiction upon the Delhi Police to investigate the case. Pertinently, vide
order dated 01.02.2005, the respondents No.2 and 3 were directed to
transfer the FIR to Police Station: Jagraon, District Ludhiana.
6. In these circumstances, it would be appropriate for the petitioner
to approach the police authorities in State of Punjab for the purpose of
carrying out investigation on the basis of the zero FIR, which already stands
transferred to Police Station: Jagraon, District Ludhiana vide order dated
01.02.2005. In case, the petitioner faces any difficulty in that regard, he
shall be at liberty to seek appropriate directions from the concerned Court in
accordance with law.
7. The writ petition is disposed of. File be consigned to the record
room.
(HIMA KOHLI)
JULY 01, 2010 JUDGE
rkb
