T MARUTHAMUTHU Vs. GOVERNMENT OF TAMILNADU

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner, calling himself as a public spirited man, interested in the welfare of the people and administration of criminal justice, has filed the above writ petition inter alia making allegations against the police officers in general, in Tamil Nadu, and more particularly, the Sub-Inspectors of the year 1987 batch, who have been promoted to the rank of Inspectors, since, according to him, the said batch of officers, who have been promoted as Inspectors from the year 1996, have amassed disproportionate assets and are indulging in real estate business with their ill-gotten money leading a luxurious life. According to him, the Inspectors of Police, though provided with a jeep and a driver, are using it for purposes other than official and some of the Inspectors are able to stay in the same District leading to a nexus between them and the criminals. According to him, the Inspectors have no respect for law because they have a batch of Indian police officers of Tamil Nadu cadre as god fathers, to save them from any penal proceedings and that the remaining 25% are unable to withstand the non-cooperation and disturbances from 75% corrupt police officers. He has also quoted the statistics of National Crime Records Bureau, New Delhi, according to which, 32. 2% of the offences are crimes under the Indian Penal Code, which are cognizable in nature and murder cases constitute only 2%. He has further alleged that the Inspectors of Police are not taking interest in the investigation of murder cases and if at all they do any investigation, they are not collecting evidence and witnesses to prove the ingredients of the offences and their investigation is faulty leading to acquittal. It is his further allegation that in the past, District Superintendents of Police used to review the judgments of cases and used to monitor and appraise the officers involved in prosecution, which system, according to him, is no longer in existence. He has stated that on account of acquittal of the accused persons, they escape from the clutches of law, which affects the family of the deceased and reflects on the entire society.

(2.) HE has further stated in the grounds that Crime No. 151 of 1998 registered at Air Port Police Station, Tiruchirapalli City Police Limits, as regards the murder of one Vijayalayan, has ended in filing of the final report and is pending as Sessions Case No. 39 of 2001 in the Court of the First Additional District Judge, Tiruchi and that the investigation in the said crime was taken up by Saminathan, Inspector of Police. According to him, in the case diary dated 14. 7. 98, 15. 7. 98 and 19. 7. 98, the officer has mentioned that he identified Pichaimuthu, James, Settu, Kora Kumar and Subramanian Chettiyar as accused and that in his case diary dated 2. 8. 98, he has mentioned that he identified a blue colour jeep, which came to the scene of occurrence and that the said officer has omitted to arrest Subramanian Chettiyar, Kora Kumar, Pichaimuthu, James and Settu and also failed to recover the said jeep with an intention to shield the offenders. He has further stated that later, the investigation was taken up by his successor, Selvaraj, who created false records and filed the final report on 14. 6. 2000 against three accused, namely, Batcha, Mahamuni and Jayakumar, without any evidence. According to him, the case was transferred to Crime Branch C. I. D. and D. S. P. , C. B. C. I. D. , Madurai Range, with the assistance of Senthil, Inspector of Police, created false records with an intention to shield the offenders and filed the amended final report on 30. 6. 2003 against Subramanian Chettiyar, Korakumar, Batcha, Mahamuni and Jayakumar without any evidence. It is further alleged that for motive, Selvaraj a prohibition offender and Krishnamurthy Ex-convict, were cited as witnesses, who are working as Day watchman and Night watchman in the house of Sujatha Subramanian Chettiyar, though they were not the real witnesses. According to the petitioner, to prove the conspiracy, Mohan, who is the servant of Senthil, Inspector of Police and one Thangapatham were cited as witnesses, though they went away in 1998 to buy chemicals for their soap manufacturing industry, which was commenced in the year 2002, from a Glucose manufacturing industry owned by the accused, Subramanian Chettiyar. According to him, Hakeem and Dhinakaran, who were cited as witnesses to prove that the accused and the deceased were last seen, were only name lenders arranged by the accused, Subramanian Chettiyar and that all of them have played their respective roles, so that the case will not succeed in the Court. According to the petitioner, the investigation carried out by the police is dishonest and faulty and that right from the registration of the first information report till the final report was filed, the investigation was not on proper lines. According to him, on account of the murder of the son, the father, who is the retired Secretary to Government, died and the mother filed a petition in Crl. O. P. No. 17026 of 2004 before this Court for re-trial, which was admitted on 12. 5. 2004 and stay was also granted. According to him that in spite of the notice given to the Additional Public Prosecutor, he did not convey the order of the learned Judge to the State Police Authority, since, according to him, "no care attitude prevails at Prosecution Law Officer level" and there is no monitoring or appraisal system before the State Police Department about Prosecution Law Officers.

(3.) THE petitioner has cited another instance, which was registered as a crime at K. K. Nagar police station in Tiruchi, in Crime No. 237 of 2001 pertaining to the murder of one Sobha, aged about 19 years. He has stated that the parents of the said Sobha were made to wait before the police every day for a month by Kandasamy, Inspector of Police, K. K. Nagar Police Station, who is now an Inspector at Tiruchi Fort police station. According to him, in the said crime, Ajeeth has been named as a suspect accused and that the said officer Kandasamy kept silent and the matter is still under investigation. He has further stated that the said case is equal to Kerala advocate Abdul Rashid murder case at Salem, in which, investigation was done by C. B. I. on the directions of the Court. According to him, "the entire investigating officers involved in murder cases" either did defective investigation or not doing investigation, with an intention to save the real accused and "are unable to cope up with the Indian Penal Code Crime Murder cases". He has made further allegation that those who are responsible for protecting life and ensuring fair and proper investigation are not showing any anxiety and that law and justice become files in the hands of those "wanton boys" and that investigation carried out by the officers in the above two crimes are defective and faulty and if the records are called for, it will reflect the faulty investigation.