S.H.ZARINA BEGUM Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Criminal Original Petition has been filed seeking a direction to transfer the investigation in Crime No.688 of 2018, pending on the file of the respondent Police, to the CBCID or any other independent agency.

(2.) The petitioner is the defacto complainant, who lodged a complaint before the respondent Police alleging that certain valuable jewels had been stolen from her residence. Pursuant to the said complaint, the respondent Police registered a First Information Report in Crime No.688 of 2018 on 5/10/2018. However, according to the petitioner, the investigation has remained pending without any meaningful progress for several years. In such circumstances, the petitioner has approached this Court seeking a transfer of the investigation.

(3.) When the matter was taken up for hearing on 10/7/2025, the learned Government Advocate (Criminal Side), on instructions, submitted that the investigation had been completed and that the complaint had been closed by the respondent-police. It was further submitted that a closure report had been filed before the jurisdictional Magistrate on 5/7/2025. This submission came as a surprise to the Court, particularly in view of the fact that the FIR had been registered as early as 5/10/2018, and that there had been a long interregnum of nearly seven years during which no closure report was either filed before the Magistrate or communicated to the de facto complainant. It also came to light that the closure report was filed only after the issuance of notice in the present Criminal Original Petition and pursuant to the scrutiny of this Court.