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Court slams political pressure in criminal cases

Legal Correspondent

Courts can interfere in such instances to correct injustice, it says

Courts are guardians of life and liberty of citizens: Bench
Orissa High Court order upheld

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has slammed political pressure and influence in criminal cases to let off the accused and held that courts can interfere in such instances to render complete justice.

A Bench of Justices Altamas Kabir and Cyriac Joseph said: “Courts, in particular the High Courts, are the guardians of the life and liberty of the citizens and if there is any flavour of deliberate misuse of the authority vested in the investigating authority, the High Courts or the Supreme Court may certainly step in to correct such injustice or failure of justice.”

Writing the judgment, Mr. Justice Kabir said, “When any illegality and/or mala fide action on the part of the investigating authorities, either on its own or at the behest of an interested party, is brought to the notice of the High Courts, the High Courts, in exercise of their inherent and plenary powers, are entitled to intervene to set right the illegality and/or such mala fide action.”

In the instant criminal case, the Orissa police had initially named in the FIR 19 persons as accused in the murder of Bhagirathi Das in Orissa’s Jajpur district on March 28, 2007, allegedly by Kedar Narayan Parida and 18 others but only three were arrested.

It was alleged that on the intervention of the local MLA, Parameswar Sethi, the Director-General of Police and the Inspector-General (Central Zone) dropped 12 of the accused from the case and filed charge sheet against only seven accused. Victim’s wife Kabita Das wrote a letter to the Orissa High Court, pointing out the political interference and seeking justice. This letter was treated as a writ petition and the High Court directed the police to take action against all the 19 accused named in the FIR.

The present special leave petition by Kedar Narayan Parida and others is directed against this judgment.

Dismissing the appeal, the Bench, quoting the High Court order, said the role played by Dr. Sethi in trying to deflect the course of investigation amounted to interference with the course of justice.

The Bench said the action of Dr. Sethi, who went to the extent of providing an alibi for two of the accused claiming that they were present in his house when the incident occurred, not only “exudes an unpleasant flavour but raises doubts about the bona fides of the police authorities at the highest level.”

The Bench concurred with the direction issued by the High Court holding that “it was done to prevent injustice from being done on account of the intervention of influential persons, which not only had the effect of negating the supervisory report of the Additional Superintendent of Police, Jajpur, but also resulted in an attempt to shield some of the accused persons.”

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