NEW DELHI: Emphasising that ‘no one should be a judge in his own cause’, the Supreme Court has transferred the investigation into a custodial death of a young man in Madhya Pradesh from the state police to the CBI.
The top court directed the central agency to forthwith register the case and immediately arrest Madhya Pradesh police officers, responsible for the incident in 2023.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta pointed out this is a classic case warranting invocation of the Latin maxim ‘nemo judex in causa sua’ which means that ‘no one should be a judge in his own cause’.
"If the investigating agency is privy to the dispute, it may raise doubts on the credibility of the investigation and thus, make out a ground to transfer the investigation," the court said.
The court issued the directions on a petition filed by Hansura Bai and another person, the mother and aunt of the deceased, respectively.
The petitioners assailed Madhya Pradesh High Court's December 20, 2024 order, which rejected their plea to transfer the investigation into the custodial death of Deva Pardhi on the date of his marriage, due to alleged torture and intense third degree treatment to some other investigating agency.
They alleged the deceased and his uncle Gangaram Pardhi were picked from home during the haldi ceremony on the date of his marriage on July 14, 2023 in a theft case. Both the persons were severely tortured in police station, causing death of Deva. It was only after the magisterial inquiry, an FIR was lodged but no police person got arrested in the case.
In the 21-page judgment, the bench, pointed out the credibility of the investigating agency should be impeachable. However, the power to transfer investigations to a certain investigating agency must be sparingly used in the interest of justice and to maintain public trust in the institution.
In the case, the bench said the allegation of causing custodial death was against the local police officials of Myana Police Station. The fact that the police officials have influenced the investigation right from the beginning was amply borne out from the circumstance that even the doctors, who conducted autopsy of the dead body seemed to have been pressurised and influenced, it noted.
The court noted, till date, not one of the police officials responsible for the death in custody has been arrested even though eight months have passed since lodging of the FIR.
As the members of the medical board which conducted post-mortem, failed to express any opinion on the cause of his death, the bench said, "This omission seems to be deliberate rather unintentional and appears to be a direct result of influence being exercised by the local police officials".
The court concluded that these circumstances gave rise to a clear inference that the investigation by the local police was not being carried out in a fair and transparent manner and there was an imminent possibility of the prosecution being subjugated by the accused if the investigation was left in the hands of the State police, who were apparently shielding their own fellow policemen owing to the camaraderie.
The court ordered the jurisdictional Superintendent of Police, CBI to forthwith direct registration of the regular case and ensure fair, transparent and expeditious investigation into the custodial death of Deva Pardhi.
"The police officials found responsible for the custodial death shall be arrested forthwith and not later than a period of one month from today. The investigation shall be concluded within a period of 90 days from the date of the arrest of the accused," the bench said.
The bench found a deliberate attempt was being made to somehow or the other, implicate Gangaram Pardhi in multiple cases, one after the other, so as to keep him behind bars indefinitely, and break his spirit and the spirit of his family members thereby ensuring that the said person being the star witness of the custodial death of Deva Pardhi is not only demoralized but is also prevented from deposing against the errant police officials.
The court fixed the responsibility to provide safety and security to Gangaram Pardhi, either in prison or after being released on bail, on the Principal Secretary (Home), and the Director General of Police, Madhya Pradesh. It granted liberty to Gangaram Pardhi to directly move the High Court for bail in all the cases in which he has been implicated after the incident of July 13-14, 2024.
It noted the sole eye-witness Gangaram, the uncle of the deceased, was shifted from Guna to Gawalior jail due to threat to his life.
