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Judgment
N. Arumugham, J.—The prosecution witnesses 1 and 2 being the victim at the hands of the accused/Respondents 2 to 6, who are five in number are challenging the judgment rendered by the learned Judicial Magistrate, Bhavani, in C.C. No. 513 of 91 dated 24-5-1995 thereby acquitting all the accused/Respondents 2 to 6 for the offences under Sections 147, 148, 447, 324, 323 and 326 IPC on several Courts.
The Revision Petitioners being the son and the father along with P.W.3 were in their garden house situated at Chinna Naicken Thottam, Mathur village in Periyar District. There existed a rivalry between them and the accused herein and as such, in the midnight on 30-6-1991, it was alleged that the five accused armed with crowbar, knife, stick and other lethal weapons formed an unlawful assembly with the common object of committing trespass, attacking P.Ws.1 to 4, entered into the house of the Revision Petitioners and thus having gained the entry attacked P.Ws.1 to 4 and ran away after causing simple and grievous injuries and consequently, on the next day evening a complaint was registered by Vellithiruppur police station and followed by the investigation, after examining the Medical Officers and other witnesses with regard to the treatment given to four injured, and recording their statements, preparing rough sketch regarding the scene of crime, and mahazar and so on, Vellithiruppur Police laid a final report against the five Respondents before the learned Judicial Magistrate. After the issuance of process, on entering their appearance, copies of the relevant documents relied upon by the Petitioners were furnished and when questioned all the accused denied their complicity as a whole and consequently the trial commenced. The revision Petitioners and the other injured were examined as P.Ws.1 and 2, P.Ws.3 and 4 who were mother and sister of the first Petitioner. Thus, all the four, who sustained injuries, were examined before the court below and cross examined. They have stated the overt acts of the five Respondents which led to the sustaining of the respective injuries to their body, giving of the complaint to the police and their getting treatment from the medical officers concerned as well as the complaint given for the recovery of the material objects under the cover of mahazars Exs.P.2, P.3 and the blood stained clothes recovered from them under the cover of mahazars Exs.P.4 to P.7 and so on. To testify the abovesaid fact P.Ws.5 and 6 claimed to have been the attestors of the mahazars were also examined. Thus, the non-official witnesses including the four victims and two attestors of the mahazars were duly summoned, they appeared before the trial court and spoke their versions before the trial court.
The most disturbing feature in this case is the person who registered the F.I.R. according to the Prosecution, the Head Constable of Vellithiruppur Police Station as well as the Investigating Officer, who did the investigation, Viz., the Sub Inspector, has not attended the Court nor received the summons from the Court, sent on various occasions, nor they evinced any interest in prosecuting this case after having filed a final report u/s 173 of the Code for obvious reasons known to them. It was, therefore, under the circumstances, with the recording of the evidence of six witnesses and after having exhausted all the steps expected to be taken by the Court of law and finding no result, the learned Magistrate had closed the Prosecution case and questioned the accused with regard to the incriminating portion of the evidence adduced against them so far, and ultimately perhaps, on the basis of certain inconsistencies and omissions, acquitted the accused but however, pointed out the non-co-operation of the police concerned.
It was this judgment which is being canvassed by P.Ws.1 and 2, who are the sufferers at the hands of not only the accused but also the police.
I have had the occasion to hear the Bar for the Revision Petitioners as well as the learned Government Advocate on behalf of the State, and the Bar for the accused. The accused are supporting the impugned judgment for the reasoning that the evidence tendered by P.Ws.1 to 6 were suffering from inherent laches and omissions as well as contradiction, and in other respects they have no say as to what has been stated by the learned Government Advocate when there was nothing stated by and on behalf of the other Respondents.
Having looked into the impugned judgment and the case records, I was terribly upset with the modus operandi adopted by the Respondent-police. It was under these circumstances, it has become necessary for me to point out the attitude of the police. On the date of occurrence which happened during the mid night in Chinnainacken thottam garden house, the entire family of the Revision Petitioners were attacked by the assailants and thus rendered helpless and thus, it is noted that every one of them sustained injuries as evident from the medical certificate and treatment given by the doctors. Since the occurrence had taken place during the midnight, in a remote place of the garden, the injured were able to reach the Government Hospital from where, the statements of the injured witnesses were secured and transmitted to the police which is said to have been claimed as the F.I.R. The injured witnesses have consistently claimed that they have reported the matter to the Vellithiruppur police even when they were coming to the hospital for treatment. But, however, Vellithiruppur Police have not registered a case nor had been to the spot immediately nor set the law in motion as provided. But for their lethargy according to the learned trial Magistrate the Prosecution version has to suffer.
The most significant among disturbing feature in this case is, the investigating agency never showed any inclination to have interest in this case even in knowing the hearing dates of the case nor in receipt of any summons and serving the same with the witnesses due to be examined even though they have been examined and cited as the Prosecution witnesses. A reading of the impugned judgment would clinch the fact that several times, summons were sent to the police and their higher officials by the Court below, but it has provided no result at all. None of the doctors has been produced before the court nor the Head Constable who registered the case nor the Investigating Officer has come to the Court. Having filed a case before the Court of law and while every police station is in the habit of deputing police men to attend the court work every day, it is strange to say that they are not aware of the proceedings or the hearing dates. It was in this usual mode as a result of the indifference, the Head Constable, the Sub-Inspector and the doctors who treated the injured remained absent and they never attended the Court at all. These circumstances had necessitated the trial court to take advantage of and deliver the impugned judgment, acquitting all the accused and the aggrieved party suffered very heavily at the hands of the assailants who took the law into their hands. If this mode adopted by the investigating agency is allowed to continue, then no aggrieved citizen of the society will have any remedy either from the Court of law or from the society and the ultimate result will be that the armed goondas would alone take the upper hand and dominate the whole society, resulting in law and order enforcing authority merely a passive agency lightly watching on the armed goondaism prevailing in the country. For the said reasoning I have no hesitation in my mind to deprecate the above attitude like anything and I am pointing out the above aspect only with a view to avoid the recurrence of the incidents of this nature and for administrative discipline in the police department, hereafter at least, if not to reprimand such of the officers for dereliction of their duty.
In the light of the above object, I have directed the concerned police officers to appear before me through the learned Government Advocate and accordingly they had appeared before me and feigned in the knowledge of the hearing dates before the court of law for the very reasoning that they had been transferred already to different places. Even the present police officers who are in charge of the Vellithiruppur police station have been summoned by me and their sworn affidavit filed before me would clinch the fact that not a single soul in the Vellithiruppur police station had taken any steps to ascertain the stage of the case which was clearly initiated by them before the Court of law. While referring all the above matters, I would like to make it clear that I have not referred anything on merits of the case. The examination of the medical witnesses and the Investigating Officers who occupy predominant role in a case for Prosecution to be improved has not at all been done in this case which ought not to have taken place in any Court of law. The explanation offered by the police officers at present would be to the effect that the police officers concerned were transferred already and that was the reason why the summons were not duly served. Irrespective of the merits of this case, as a rule of prudence, I may hereby direct every police officer who took part in the investigation and engaged in one way or the other in the law and order implementing tasks, must take every initiative to know the hearing dates, shall appear before the Court, and give evidence in support of the Prosecution, failing which, the matter will be taken by the higher officials concerned and departmental actions will be taken against them who have derelicted in doing their duty. While usually so, I would like to remind the police that the judicial system are not the enemies but complementary to each other and if once the crime detective agency has collected every material against the assailants or the culprits and filed everything before the Court of Law for the purpose of getting the punishment for the offences committed, the task of crime punishment would not at all be possible if the investigative functions deliberately fail to do, and that therefore, in order to compliment and regulate the Police department the judicial process must put an extra caution to take the police and keep it in proper tune with its duty functions.
In the light of the above legal concept, I am of the view that the Revision Petitioners in the instant case viz., two injured at the hands of the assailants are not remediless. For their onerous duty of having approached this Court. I am bound to intervene in this matter by setting aside the impugned judgment and the ends of justice would impel me to remit back the whole matter to the file of the trial court for the disposal of the case afresh by examining further witnesses from P.W.7 onwards for which as undertaken by the police officers of the past and the present officers in Vellithiruppur police station, that they would take steps after receipt of the summons and act with the promptitude and exactitude on getting the witness and produce them before the Court and give evidence and cooperate in disposing of the case in accordance with law at the earliest.
In the result, for all the foregoing reasonings the Revision is admitted and stands allowed. Accordingly, the judgment of the learned Judicial Magistrate, Bhavani, in C.C. No. 513 of 91 dated 24-5-1995 is hereby set aside and the whole case is remitted back to the file of the learned Judicial Magistrate, Bhavani for fresh trial in accordance with the directions made for compliance.