Order 12

Order Details: COPY OF JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS
Pdf Text: IN THE COURT OF SPECIAL JUDGE (PC ACT) (ACB)-02,
ROUSE AVENUE DISTRICT COURTS, NEW DELHI
Presided Over by:- Ashish Aggarwal, DHJS
CC No.58/2023
State v Ct. Surender Kumar & Ors.
FIR No.01/2015
PS Vigilance
28.08.2024
Present : Sh. Gyan Prakash, Ld. Substitute PP for State.
Sh. Vishal Chauhan, Ld. Counsel for accused Surender Kumar
alongwith the said accused.
Sh. Arun Kumar Sapra, Ld. Counsel for accused Ashok alongwith
the said accused.
Sh. Gaurav Sharma, Ld. Counsel for accused Pankaj.
IO Inspector Shyamji Srivastava is present.
ACP Virender Punj is present on behalf of DCP.
A report has been submitted in this Court which is signed by DCP
Abhishek Dhania. It is stated in the report that lapses have been found on the part
of two investigating officers and letters have been written to initiate action against
them.
I have perused the record and the report submitted in the Court. It is
regrettable that even though this Court was constrained to bring the matter to the
notice of the Commissioner of Police, there is nothing on record to show that the
order passed by this Court was even placed before the Commissioner of Police
for his perusal. It appears that the responsibility has been shifted by senior
officers to two Inspectors even though it is repeatedly submitted before this Court
that all decisions are taken in the Vigilance Branch/District collectively and with
the approval of senior officers.
This is not a solitary case where glaring lapses have been noticed.
It is the unfortunate experience of this Court that in a large number of cases, the
officers of PS Vigilance, instead of assisting, supporting and encouraging a
victim/complainant, have persistently tried to create roadblocks in the case till a
complainant would feel helpless, frustrated and would finally give up. Where the
complainant is still clinging to hope and is taking rounds of the Vigilance Branch
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and is continuing to press his allegations, the investigating officer would sit over
the file till the complainant’s memory starts to fade or till the witnesses become
unavailable due to change of address or on demise or till the evidence gets
destroyed/putrified. Often even though nothing is being done towards
investigation, the investigating officers would sit over files till they are
transferred/retired. Upon transfer/retirement, the file would be assigned to another
officer who will find that a legacy of failure and omission has been handed out to
him. He too will then brood over the matter till he can. By the time the cases come
to the Court, the investigating officers who were negligent or who had deliberately
allowed the evidence to be lost are no longer in service and they therefore receive
no punishment for their acts. In several cases, this Court has had to scrutinize the
charge-sheet (which essentially is the domain of the police) and ask the
investigating officers to make good the deficiencies. These efforts have seldom
borne fruit because by that time, the evidence has become irretrievable, as has
happened in this case.
Since writing to the office of Commissioner of Police also has not
yielded any result, I am constrained to bring the lapses to the notice of the Home
Secretary, Government of India so that steps can be taken to strengthen the
measures of the Government in its crusade against corruption.
Let copy of this order and also copy of the order dated 23.07.2024
be sent to the Home Secretary, Government of India for his information.
An application is filed on behalf of accused Pankaj Sharma seeking
exemption from appearance for today only. Arguments are heard. For the reasons
stated in the application, the same is allowed. Accused Pankaj Sharma is
exempted from his appearance for today.
Renotify for further proceedings on 07.10.2024.
The matter shall now be taken up for arguments on charge on
07.10.2024.
(Ashish Aggarwal)
Special Judge (PC Act)(ACB)-02
Rouse Avenue District Courts, New Delhi
28.08.2024
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