VIRENDER PRASAD SINGH Vs. RAJESH BHARDWAJ

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave granted.

(2.) An extremely unusual order passed by the High Court has fallen for consideration in this appeal which has been filed on behalf of the appellant/complainant Virender Prasad Singh. The said order was passed on the basis of a petition filed by the respondent No. 1/accused Rajesh Bhardwaj who is facing the charges of very serious offences like provided under Sections 302, 201 and 120B of the Indian Penal Code (hereinafter referred to as "IPC" for short). By the impugned order, the learned Judge of the High Court has issued certain directions, whereby he has directed the re-examination of the completed investigation by an officer of the rank of Director General of Police (DGP). An extremely unusual course has been taken, whereby the counsel for the respondent No. 1/accused, who had filed the petition under Section 482 before the High Court, was asked to give a proposal of three names of the police officers of the DGP rank for examining the records of the completed investigation, wherein even the charge sheet was already filed. Similar choice seems to have been given even to the counsel for the appellant/informant to suggest some names. The appellant/informant (respondent before the High Court) did not choose to give any name, with the result that the High Court went on to select one Mr. Manoj Nath, an IPS of 1973 Batch for assistance in the matter. The High Court observed:

(3.) The First Information Report refers to the incident which took place on 30.11.2007, according to which at 10 p.m. on that day, the accused went to the house of the deceased Sonu, the daughter of the appellant/complainant and left with the deceased on his motorcycle in presence of the witnesses. Since the deceased did not return home, the family members started searching for both. It has come on record that subsequently at about 12.30 a.m., the deceased Sonu had talked to her mothers sister Dr. Anita and informed her that she was with the accused and would come back after getting married with him. On the very next day i.e. on 1.12.2007, at 7.15 a.m., the family members of the deceased were informed by the Railway Police that the dead body of the girl is lying on the side of the Railway track at Karisath Railway Station and her Mobile set bearing No. 9304915589 was also lying there. The complainants brother Dr. Sanjeev reached the Railway Station and identified the body of the deceased. The deceased had injuries on her head and a portion of her leg was cut. Inquest Panchnama was executed by the Railway Police and the dead body was sent for postmortem. At this time, the complainant/father of the deceased was out of station. After he returned home, he was informed about the deceased having been taken by the respondent No. 1/accused at night on 30.11.2007. On 6.12.2007, a written complaint was filed. It was disclosed in the said complaint that the deceased was in love with Rajesh Bhardwaj, (respondent No. 1/accused) and wanted to get married with him and was persuading him for the last six months for marriage; However, the accused wanted to get rid of her, as he was having an affair with some other girl and it was due to this reason that the accused committed the murder of the deceased and threw her dead body near the Railway track at Karisath Railway Station, with the intention to create a false impression that the deceased had died in an accident. The Railway Police registered the case as GRP Case No. 73 of 2007 for offences punishable under Sections 364, 302, 201 and 120B IPC. An application for orders under Section 438 of the Criminal Procedure Code (Cr.P.C.) was moved by the respondent No. 1/accused before the Sessions Court, Arrah, which was dismissed by the Court vide order dated 18.3.2008. Needless to mention that the respondent No. 1/accused was not in the custody of the police till then. He has not been arrested even till date. Be that as it may, on finding that the accused was absconding, a proclamation under Section 82 Cr.P.C. was issued on 20.3.2008 by the Judicial Magistrate. It was also pasted on the residence of the respondent No. 1/accused on 27.3.2008. The respondent No. 1/accused, after about four months i.e. on 1.7.2008, moved a petition before the High Court for the same relief under Section 438, which was registered as Criminal Misc. No. 33158 of 2008. That was dismissed by the High Court vide order dated 1.7.2008. The respondent No. 1/accused did not stop there and moved to this Court by way of a Special Leave Petition (Crl.) No. 5140 of 2008. It came before this Court on 28.7.2008 and this Court dismissed the same. However, it was observed that: