HC comes down heavily on police for filing FIR against SCI

Mumbai, Oct 15 (UNI) The Bombay high court today came down heavily on police for filing FIR against Chairman and Managing Director and a director of Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) without enquiring about their involvement and issued bailable warrant against the complainant in the matter, for securing his presence before the court.

A complaint alleging that some high officials of the SCI had aided and abetted suicide committed by one of the SCI employees Viveksing Bist, onboard a SCI ship, had been filed in Marine Drive police station.

CMD S Hazara and one of his colleague on the board of directors, Kailash Gupta and some other officials of the SCI moved the high court seeking quashing of the FIR, saying that they were falsely implicated in the case.

A division bench comprising R M S Khandeparkar and Justice V K Tahilramani observed that the police machinery did not follow mandate of section 154 of the CrPC, which provides for preliminary enquiry before filling FIR, when it found that FIR was lodged even after a preliminary enquiry revealed nothing against the petitioners Hazara and Gupta.

The court also observed that the case was a glaring example of mischievous attitude of police officers, knowing that nothing as of yet was found against them in further investigation.

Commenting that prima facie there was no case for recording FIR, the court cast doubt over conduct of the investigation officer by saying ''they wondered whether it could be a mere case of negligence''.

But, before quashing the FIR, the court has issued bailable warrant of Rs 50,000 and one or two surety of the like amount, against the complainant Anilkumar Jalani and directed IO of the case to produce him in court on next date of hearing--October 23.

UNI