Facts
The deceased who was a 21-year-old student of National Law University Jodhpur was the only son of his parents. His mother sought justice for her child because of his mysterious death. Her son went to a hotel which was 300m far away from his university with his friends, the other morning his dead body was found near the railway track beside Lakshmi guest house. Many people claimed that he was suffering from depression which was why he committed suicide. The university lodged an FIR after 10 months of the incident on 19.6.2018 on pressure from the deceased’s father.
Arguments
Sunil Fernandez, the counsel appearing for the Petitioner said that police had shown casualness in the investigation as from the fact, that the crime scene was not sealed by the police. Further, no proper investigation was followed like location tracing or Whatapp chats. No CCTV footage was checked by the investigating team. The counsel also stated that railway authorities said that nobody was cited by them and a witness who went to the tracks to answer a nature call also said that nobody was seen by him. These witnesses make the situation tricky. The post mortem report states that there were 9 injuries inflicted on the deceased which made it evident that it was a homicidal death and not suicide.
The deceased left the hostel with his friends and it was stated that the deceased came back with his friends. There was a hostel entry record of his coming but it was said to be made out of mistake by a friend so surely this was a matter of investigation. The deceased’s father moved the HC stating that there were no serious efforts from the police in the investigation and failed to make a proper investigation. The Court dismissed the Petition and ordered the police to submit the report within 2 months about the whole case.
Dr Manish Singhai, counsel appearing for the Respondent stated that a large number of people had been examined and all the evidence had been sealed. There was thereby no deficiency in the investigation. Despite hard efforts, no lead was found.
Observation
The Court said that after considering both the parties and their contentions, it was certain that the incident is of a homicidal death and not of suicide. The incident took place 3 years earlier and there was no lead. No clue of the homicidal death had been traced and no final report of the investigation had been filed before the Court. The whole investigation and closure report was not bona fide.
Court’s Decision
The Bench lead by Justice Nariman, Justice Sinah And Justice Banerjee said deceased was not assaulted at the railway track but somewhere else. The Court said to set up a whole new and fresh investigation team which must be done in less than 2 months. No officers from the prior team to be a part of the new investigation and the investigation must proceed with the access of law.
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