The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : `False statements by police will lead to miscarriage of justice'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 18, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

`False statements by police will lead to miscarriage of justice'

By Our Staff Reporter

MADURAI, FEB. 17 . Taking exception to the "false and misleading" statements made by police officers in a woman missing case, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday said such an "irresponsible act" would lead to miscarriage of justice at the cost of public time and money.

Pointing out that the court, while administering justice, had no option but to rely on the statements made by the law officers, who in turn were instructed by the police officials concerned, a Division Bench, comprising Justice P.D. Dinakaran and Justice S. Ashok Kumar, said that when the police officers made "misleading" statements, "the people at large will lose confidence not only in the police but also in the judiciary."

The Bench recorded its "displeasure" at the attitude of the investigating officers in misleading six Division Benches for nearly nine months stating that a special team was constituted to search the woman (though she was murdered long time ago).

However, it reposed confidence in the Director-General of Police that he would weed out such "inefficient" officers to the benefit of not only the department but also society at large. "Because of a few irresponsible police officers, the image and morale of the entire force will be at stake."

Closing the two habeas corpus petitions moved by the mother and the brother of the missing woman, Pushpavalli (21) of Thangachiammapatty in Dindigul district, pending since April 22, 2004, the Bench directed the police to proceed with the case as per the law based on the superimposition test results submitted on Tuesday.

The results filed by the Assistant Director, Anthropology Division, Forensic Sciences Department, Chennai, confirmed that the skeleton exhumed at Sriramapuram near Vedasandur on January 27, 2005 was that of the woman.

The Bench said the prosecution obtained several adjournments in the last nine months, undertaking to produce the woman at the earliest.

The police all along submitted that a special team, led by a Superintendent of Police, had been formed to trace her.

The police, in two counter-affidavits filed on July 2 last and January 23, said Pushpavalli eloped with her former lover to a place near Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.

Dissatisfied with the "lethargic attitude" of the police in tracing the woman and declining to grant a long adjournment, the Bench on January 24 directed them to interrogate the person with whom she was alleged to have been seen last.

The police filed a special report on January 28 stating that the woman was murdered by her mother-in-law with the help of a couple and her body was buried at Sriramapuram.

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