KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Thursday came down heavily on Additional Director General of Police (Crimes) S Sreejith who had filed a plea accusing the court of passing orders on a police protection petition by Monson Mavunkal’s former driver based on information in the public domain. The HC observed that the officer’s move was intended to browbeat the court into a particular result.
Justice Devan Ramachandran observed orally: “How dare a high-ranking police officer come to the court and say that the court is passing orders based on information in the public domain and breaching the confidentiality of the investigation.”
If a police officer came to the court and made such allegations and got away, it would be “the darkest times for the system”, he said. “No one can dictate to this court how and in what manner a case is to be decided. They can make their case through pleadings and submissions, but can never insist that this court deliver judgment in the manner they require,” Justice Devan Ramachandran said.
Referring to Sreejith’s plea, the court observed: “This application is unusual, never seen before in other cases, but surely filed with a design in seeking that this court disposes of the afore writ petition, in the manner as sought for therein, even before it has been finally heard or pleadings of the parties completed. The overbearing and recriminatory tenor of the averments in the affidavit, sworn to by a very senior ranking officer, in support of the application, is conspicuous and it reads like an argument note, to insist that this court deliver judgment in a certain way.”
The court pointed out that the police officer’s affidavit said no material was on record to show any allegation against the high-ranking police officers when it was unequivocally admitted by the State Police Chief in his affidavit that an Inspector General of Police had been placed under suspension for his alleged nexus with Monson and that the then State Police Chief and an ADGP (Headquarters) made an unscheduled visit to the residence of Monson in 2019, and subsequently, he was given police protection.