CHENNAI: Holding that the rule of law cannot prevail if persons involved in serious crimes are allowed to go scot-free, the Madras High Court has directed the Tamil Nadu DGP to take departmental action against the inspectors attached to District Crime Branch (DCB) of Tiruvannamalai district police for failing to complete the probe into bogus recruitment to the Railways and file the charge sheet even after 10 years of registering the FIR.
It is a statutory mandate imposed by the law that once a cognisable offence is reported, the police are required to act without delay, hold a thorough probe and take steps to ensure the offenders are brought before the court but in the present case, investigation has been left pending for “an unjustifiably long period,” Justice P Velmurugan observed in a recent order on a petition filed by the affected persons.
He noted, “Unfortunately, this case is another example where the matter has been left pending for years without any valid reason, which damages public trust in the police and in the justice system.”
The judge directed the DGP to initiate departmental action against all the SHOs (inspectors) who served with the DCB from September 24, 2015, to till date, for failing to complete the investigation.
He ordered the state government to pay Rs 10 lakh compensation to the petitioners within eight weeks to be apportioned equally by them and the amount be recovered from the salaries of the SHOs concerned.
The petition was filed by K Sudhakar, S Gopala Krishnan, S Gopi, D Venkatesan, K Annamelan and P Harikrishnan of Arani taluk in Tiruvannamalai district. They stated the DCB registered the FIR in 2015 against four men for cheating them with fake appointment orders for jobs in the Eastern Railways but the charge sheet has not been filed till now.
The judge said even though the petitioners have not adopted fair means to get the job, it does not absolve the police of their statutory duty to probe cognisable offences.
He directed the DCB to finish the probe within two months and file the final report in the jurisdictional magistrate court.