Cops punished for ‘shoddy approach’, High Court told

Saurabh Malik

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 19

Two years after the Punjab and Haryana High Court directed the Haryana Chief Secretary to take appropriate action against the erring official after rapping the state police for slapdash probe into a murder case, departmental proceedings have revealed a “lacklustre and shoddy approach”. The court has also been told that the punishment of stoppage of one annual increment with temporary effect has been slapped on two cops. The proceedings were initiated after a woman’s body was found while the fate of her 17-day-old child remained unknown.

The case has its genesis in an FIR registered in May 2010 for the murder and other offences under Sections 302, 201 and 404 of the IPC at the Kundli police station in Sonepat district after the woman’s body was found. Subsequently, her husband Deepak was arrested.

The victim’s father specifically deposed that the accused had accompanied his daughter and infant in a car. The appellant was last seen with the victim and minor son. Upholding the life sentence awarded to him by Sonepat Additional Sessions Judge, a Division Bench of the High Court in its earlier judgment had asserted that even the prosecution very surprisingly chose to kept mum regarding the search for infant.

The Bench had observed there was nothing on record to show efforts made by the investigating agency to know the unfortunate child’s fate. “In fact, no effort at all has been made by the investigating agency to locate the whereabouts of the infant. There is a serious lapse on the part of the investigating agency which failed to utter a single word with regard to the fate of the unfortunate child,” the Bench had added.

Confirming the conviction and sentence, the Bench had further added a “very insensitive approach” was displayed by the investigating agency, which chose to remain idle on the aspect of the child’s fate. “Thus, it is manifestly clear that the investigation was quite shoddy and not up to the mark, which is not expected from the state police. If this would be the attitude of the investigating agencies to investigate such type of crimes, then there would be every possibility for the accused going scot-free,” the Bench noted.

As the case came up for resumed hearing on the issue of compliance, the Bench of Justice Jaswant Singh and Justice Lalit Batra was told that departmental proceedings were held against erring officials ASI Anand Singh and HC Naresh Kumar. The charges stood proven and punishment awarded.