Single-judge Justice S Sanjay Dutt Yadav issued detailed guidelines for the police and also the Judicial Magistrates to probe criminal cases without any delay so as to avoid any kind of prejudice either to the accused or the complainant.
The bench emphasised on the need to impart professional training to police officers to probe cases involving financial frauds, money laundering and crypto currency.
“Offences may be categorised into petty offences, serious offences and heinous offences. As regards petty offences, time limit of 60 days could be fixed for completion of investigation which could be extended by the Special Judge or Magistrate upon request made, assigning reasons for extension of time for investigation to be completed. As regards serious and heinous offences, time limit of 90 days could be stipulated,” the judge said.
In the event the investigation is not completed within the time prescribed and the superior officer is of the opinion that there are no justifable reasons for completion of the investigation, power can be exercised under Section 36 of the Code of Criminal Procedure by the superior officer, the Court added.
Section 36 provides that police officers superior in rank to an officer in charge of a police station may exercise the same powers, throughout the local area to which they are appointed, as may be exercised by such officer within the limits of his station
If the probe isn’t completed within the stipulated time, the judge said, the authorities could take recourse to Section 20(c) and (d) of the Karnataka Police Act.
“A complaint could be made to the State and District Police Complaint Authority. In fact, delay in completing investigation can be a ground to invoke Section 20(C) in terms of the Explanation to Section 20(C)(7). This would ensure accountability of the investigating officers,” the judge said.
The guidelines were issued by the court while dealing with two petitions, one filed by former member of legislative assembly (MLA) Abhaykumar Patil from Belgavi south challenging orders passed by a Magistrate ordering FIR against him in a private complaint filed by Sujit Mulgund.
Source: Barandbench
