HC refuses to transfer probe in Dhadrianwale case to independent agency

Taking up a petition seeking the registration of a murder case against preacher Ranjit Singh Dhadrianwale, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has allowed the local police to investigate the matter after refraining from transferring the case to an independent agency “for the time being”.

“This court, for the time being, refrains from handing over investigation of the case to any independent agency and allows the local police to conduct investigation by filing appropriate compliance report of various steps taken in the investigation to the jurisdictional Magistrate. If the jurisdictional Magistrate finds any of the reports amiss, the officer is directed to send a report to this court…,” the Bench asserted.

The court observed the matter revolved around the non-registration of an FIR, despite furnishing information of cognizable offences to the police.

“The information was given way back in 2012, but the FIR has been registered now in December on the insistence of this court,” the court asserted.

Before disposing of the petition filed through counsel Navneet Kaur Waraich, the court also took note of petitioner–complainant’s submissions that he had “no trust in the local police authorities” as he apprehended the probe would not be carried out in a free and fair manner. As such, the investigation was required to be conducted by an independent agency.

The court had earlier asked the Punjab Director-General of Police to explain “whether the tendency of conducting a preliminary inquiry to assess the veracity of allegations in the first information has been stopped and if not why”. He was also asked to elaborate upon the action against erring police officers.

The Bench had asserted: “The case discloses sorry state of affairs, where instead of lodging an FIR based on the first information provided by the complainant on May 24, 2012, regarding an incident of rape and murder, the police embarked upon an illegal and unconstitutional inquiry to assess the veracity of the allegations”.

Referring to Section 154 of the CrPC/Section 173 of the BNSS, the court asserted a statutory obligation was cast on the police to register an FIR without any unnecessary delay on receipt of information regarding the commission of cognizable offences.

The court also took note of the state counsel’s contentions that the inquiry in the instant case was conducted to assess the veracity of allegations levelled in the first information. The statements of the complainant’s relatives were recorded and the matter was closed after approval of the senior police officers/officials.