CHENNAI: Questioning the discrepancies in the number of criminal cases pending at different stages as per the information furnished to the jurisdictional court and the statistics available with the police, the Madras High Court on Monday directed the Greater Chennai Police (GCP) Commissioner A Arun, who was present in the court as per an earlier order, to file a report on the pending cases registered under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) till June, 2024.
Justice P Velmurugan issued the direction while hearing a petition filed by V Vanamamalai, a resident of an apartment in Nolambur, seeking a direction to the police to register a case on alleged caste discrimination and abuse by a member of the flat owners’ association.
The judge flagged the frequent showdown between the police investigation officers (IOs) and the judicial officers. “One of the reasons is that you are not submitting closure reports in the courts if any case is closed,” he said, adding it is mandatory to report to the court forthwith if any FIR is registered or closed. Final reports are also not properly submitted in the courts, he noted.
The judge directed the commissioner to file a report on the cases under the IPC till the BNSS came into force, pendency at the stage of FIR, charge sheet or not having been taken on file of the judicial magistrate courts. He gave time till July 8 for filing the report.
The judge said the IOs should not be engaged in other duties like bandobust because the officers are citing such duties as “lame reasons” for delaying the probe.
The commissioner told the court that issues like discrepancies in FIR pendency arise as the monitoring committee meeting between the police and the judiciary has been abandoned. Assuring full cooperation from the side of the judiciary, Justice Velmurugan said he can address within a very short time issues of non-cooperation on the part of the judiciary, if specific issues are brought to his notice.
He warned that orders would be passed to suspend the IOs and the judicial officers concerned if discrepancies arose in future.
“The ultimate sufferers are the public, particularly the daily-wage labourers,” the judge stated. Regarding the petition on the caste discrimination filed by Vanamamalai, state public prosecutor Hasan Mohamed Jinnah submitted that the police has not received any complaints from the National SC/ST Commission, as alleged by the petitioner.
However, the judge ordered him to file a counter-affidavit by June 23.