MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court on Wednesday directed the Kumuli police to conduct an investigation into the death of a Theni man in an alleged encounter by forest officials on October 28, as per Supreme Court guidelines. The court also told the Theni Superintendent of Police to monitor the investigation.
Justice G Ilangovan passed the order on a petition filed by E Vinothini, daughter of the deceased Eswaran, seeking action against the forest officials. The judge rejected the contentions of the Additional Advocate General that the police cannot conduct a parallel investigation since the Uthamapalayam judicial magistrate is already conducting an inquiry. “The scope of inquiry under section 176(1-A) CrPC is totally different from the investigation undertaken by the police under section 157 CrPC. The inquiry by the Judicial Magistrate under section 176(1-A) CrPC is only supplementary and aiding to the police investigation and it is not a substitute,” he observed.
The judge also found certain faults in the registration of the FIR. However, noting that the case documents indicate the commission of a cognizable offence by the forest officials, he said it is open to the investigation officer to file an alteration report mentioning the proper penal provisions. Though the petitioner’s counsel argued that the case ought to have been registered under Section 302 (murder) of IPC, the judge said, “What penal provisions are attracted is a matter for consideration exclusively within the power of the Investigation Officer. It may not be proper on the part of this court to make any indication.”
In her petition, Vinothini stated that Eswaran, who was watering plants in the night of October 28, was dragged into the reserve forest by officials, including Thirumurugan, Pitchchai, Muralidharan, George alias Ponnikutty, Prabhu, Suman, Eswaran, Karthik and Santhana Kumar and shot dead. Vinothini added that though she had submitted a petition with Theni SP after the incident, he refused to accept it. Instead, an FIR was registered against her father on baseless allegations under various sections including 307 IPC.
In the FIR, it was stated that the officials went to the spot after getting information of unidentified individuals hunting wild animals. It further said that Eswaran was shot to death due to his alleged attempt to murder the officials, Vinothini alleged in the petition.