ASHOK Vs. STATE OF TAMIL NADU

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Criminal law is an instrument to maintain public order and discipline. At the same time, it is equally a settled principle that the criminal process cannot be permitted to operate as a punitive mechanism by itself. Delay, lethargy, and arbitrariness in investigation corrode the foundational guarantees of personal liberty and fair procedure enshrined under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. Courts exercising inherent jurisdiction are duty-bound to intervene when prosecution degenerates into persecution.

(2.) The present Criminal Original Petition raises a serious concern regarding inordinate delay in investigation, belated filing of a final report after more than a decade, and invocation of grave penal provisions on the basis of vague and omnibus allegations, particularly when the complainants themselves are police officials.

(3.) This Criminal Original Petition has been filed under Sec. 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, praying to call for the records relating to S.C. No.48 of 2025 on the file of the learned V Additional District and Sessions Judge, Madurai, and to quash the same as illegal, arbitrary, and an abuse of process of law.