CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Tuesday rejected a plea from Vijayan, correspondent of Zion Matriculation Higher Secondary School at Selaiyur here, to quash the charge-sheet pending before the I Additional District and Sessions Court at Chengalpattu, in connection with the death of a student Sruthi (7) on July 25, 2012.Justice P N Prakash who dismissed the petition on Tuesday, also pulled up Selaiyur police for colluding with the accused. The judge directed the Director-General of Police to nominate an officer in the rank of Inspector-General of Police to conduct an enquiry into the entire circumstances under which the investigation in the case had been conducted by Selaiyur police and take appropriate action against the officer concerned.
While returning from school on July 25, 2012, the girl fell through a gaping hole on the floor of the school van and was crushed by the rear wheel. On a complaint lodged by her uncle Sekar, Inspector attached to St Thomas Mount Traffic Investigation Wing, registered a case the same day for offences under Sections 279 and 304 (II) of IPC and 182-A and 190 of Motor Vehicles Act, against four accused, including Vijayan.
Police filed the charge-sheet against eight accused, including Vijayan (A3) before the Judicial Magistrate Court, Tambaram. The case was later committed to the court of sessions in 2014 and was now ripe for trial before the I Additional District and Sessions Judge, Chengalpattu. Dismissing the petition, the judge said in this case, Selaiyur police had not conducted parallel investigation. They conducted an investigation after the charge-sheet had been filed by St Thomas Mount Traffic Investigation Wing in 2014. “Thus, in the opinion of this court, Vijayan, in collusion with the Selaiyur police, has created false evidence to subvert the process of justice. Ergo, this court has no option except to exercise its extraordinary jurisdiction and quash the entire prosecution in Selaiyur police station and the consequential proceedings before the Judicial Magistrate Court at Tambaram,” the judge said.
M K Priya, mother of Sruthi had filed a petition for a directive to the trial court to complete the trial in the case on a day-to-day basis under the supervision of the High Court. When the petition came up for hearing, the Additional Public Prosecutor informed the court that Vijayan had given a complaint and therefore, an FIR had been registered by Selaiyur police. Considering the submission so made by the APP, the court on October 18, 2016 had issued a directive to complete the probe as quickly as possible, not later than three months.
Thereafter, the trial court was directed to complete the trial in the case expeditiously, the judge pointed out. The above petition had also been dealt with by the court in a routine fashion, without delving deep into the facts of the case. In retrospect, this court feels that Priya, the mother, must have got wind of the machinations of Vijayan that he was attempting to subvert the proceedings and that was why, she had filed the petition for expeditious trial in the case. Incidentally, though she had not been arrayed as a party-respondent in this quash application, she appeared before the high court in person and pleaded for justice.
In the light of the aforesaid discussion, the judge said the petition stood dismissed.
He set aside the prosecution before the Judicial Magistrate Court at Tambaram and directed the trial court to proceed with the trial, uninfluenced by what has been stated above and complete the same as expeditiously as possible. The defence that Vijayan was not aware of the hole in the van and that the bus was run by another accused Yogesh Sylvera are still kept open for consideration by the trial court during trial, after the charges are framed. The trial court should ensure that the accused cross-examines the witnesses the same day.