MADURAI : The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court passed an order giving instructions to police with regard to the manner in which they will have to proceed in cases inquiring suicide or suspicious death and directed the Director General of Police, Chennai, to sensitise police personnel on the procedure.
Justice N Anand Venkatesh, who passed the order, observed that whenever the police, while registering FIR under Section 174 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (inquiring suicide or suspicious death), find out that no offence has been made out, they file a final report before an Executive Magistrate and close the entire case without even intimating the victim or complainant and the judicial magistrate concerned.
Stating that such a practice is erroneous and is in violation of the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure (CrPC), Justice Venkatesh gave certain instructions to the police on how to proceed in such cases.
He stated that the police, on receipt of an information about the suspicious death, shall register an FIR under Section 174 of CrPC and thereafter proceed to the scene of occurrence to prepare an Inquest Report and a rough sketch of the place of occurrence in the presence of two or more reputable inhabitants of the neighborhood.
He further instructed that the police should submit both documents before an Executive Magistrate to enable him to hold an independent inquest, the report of which shall be added to the investigation file. “The police, on the conclusion of the investigation, shall file a Final Report only before the jurisdictional Magistrate and not before the Executive Magistrate.
This will apply, in both cases, whether the Final Report is a positive report (meaning that death not caused by suicide) or is a Closure Report,” stated the Judge, and added, in case of closure report, a notice should be served to victim enabling them to file protest petition if they wish.
The process
The police, on receipt of an information about the suspicious death, shall register an FIR under Section 174 of CrPC and thereafter proceed to the scene of occurrence to prepare an Inquest Report and a rough sketch of the place of occurrence in the presence of neighbours. The police have now been directed to submit both documents before an Executive Magistrate to enable him to hold an independent inquest, the report of which shall be added to the investigation file