NEW DELHI: Supreme Court has stayed Madhya Pradesh high court 's attempt to cure sloppy police investigations in heinous crimes by ordering their supervision by a team headed by an SP-rank IPS officer as the state questioned its feasibility, saying it had only 63 SP-rank IPS officers against nearly 40,000 registered serious crimes.
Senior additional advocate general Nachiketa Joshi told a bench of Justices K V Viswanathan and N Kotiswar Singh, "IPS officers at the SP-level available in the districts are 63, and if they are to personally supervise, it will become extremely onerous and seriously encumber their other official duties."
HC had said that to "stop careless and sloppy investigations", it should not be left "to the whims of an investigating officer". It had ordered the director general of police "to ensure in each district of the state, each and every investigation in serious crimes be supervised by a team comprising two members, which shall be headed by a senior level police officer, not below the rank of an experienced IPS officer, and other officer of the police department, not below the rank of sub-inspector of police, who may be chosen by the said IPS officer".
"The said serious crimes investigation supervising team shall supervise the investigation, and the investigating officer shall also report and apprise the team about the progress of investigation for its inputs, to ensure that there are no lapses in the investigation, and the loopholes are plugged at the right time. The said team, together with the investigating officer, shall be held responsible for any lapses in the investigation," HC had said.
Joshi informed SC that the HC directions were unworkable as there were 4.9 lakh criminal cases in the state, of which 38,116 cases were categorised as serious/heinous. He said if supervision could be allowed to be done by DSP rank officers and sub-divisional police officers, HC's aim of avoiding sloppy investigation could be achieved.
SC found merit in the MP govt's stand, stayed the HC order, and directed the state "to furnish standard operative procedure within three weeks without prejudice to their rights and contentions which they desire to put in place to achieve the object which HC sought to achieve, while at the same time ensuring the available manpower among senior level officers are adequately apportioned and utilised".
Senior additional advocate general Nachiketa Joshi told a bench of Justices K V Viswanathan and N Kotiswar Singh, "IPS officers at the SP-level available in the districts are 63, and if they are to personally supervise, it will become extremely onerous and seriously encumber their other official duties."
HC had said that to "stop careless and sloppy investigations", it should not be left "to the whims of an investigating officer". It had ordered the director general of police "to ensure in each district of the state, each and every investigation in serious crimes be supervised by a team comprising two members, which shall be headed by a senior level police officer, not below the rank of an experienced IPS officer, and other officer of the police department, not below the rank of sub-inspector of police, who may be chosen by the said IPS officer".
"The said serious crimes investigation supervising team shall supervise the investigation, and the investigating officer shall also report and apprise the team about the progress of investigation for its inputs, to ensure that there are no lapses in the investigation, and the loopholes are plugged at the right time. The said team, together with the investigating officer, shall be held responsible for any lapses in the investigation," HC had said.
Joshi informed SC that the HC directions were unworkable as there were 4.9 lakh criminal cases in the state, of which 38,116 cases were categorised as serious/heinous. He said if supervision could be allowed to be done by DSP rank officers and sub-divisional police officers, HC's aim of avoiding sloppy investigation could be achieved.
SC found merit in the MP govt's stand, stayed the HC order, and directed the state "to furnish standard operative procedure within three weeks without prejudice to their rights and contentions which they desire to put in place to achieve the object which HC sought to achieve, while at the same time ensuring the available manpower among senior level officers are adequately apportioned and utilised".
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