Nagpur: The Police Department in Nagpur has been found not following the directives of the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court, compelling complainants to approach a Magistrate for orders to further investigate non-cognizable cases, instead of obtaining these orders themselves. This issue came to light from an order passed in a recent Criminal Writ Petition.
In Criminal Writ Petition No. 544 of 2024, Judges Vibha Kankanwadi and Vrushali Joshi noted that the Cyber Police Station failed to seek permission under Section 155(2) of the CrPC from a Magistrate before conducting an investigation. The judges directed both the Cyber Police Station and Sonegaon Police Station to file an affidavit-in-reply within two weeks. This order was issued on July 18, 2024. Advocates Virat Mishra, Ayush Sharma, and Gauravi Mishra represented the petitioner in this case.
The Police Department has been instructing complainants to approach a Magistrate under Section 156(3) of the CrPC to obtain orders for further investigation, citing the non-cognizable nature of the case. However, it is actually the responsibility of the Police Department to seek permission from the Magistrate and conduct further investigations if the Investigating Officer deems the case non-cognizable.
This issue was first highlighted in a judgment passed by the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court on December 22, 2023. In Criminal Writ Petition No. 660 of 2022, Judge Anil Pansare directed the Director General of Police to issue a circular instructing investigating agencies to seek permission from the jurisdictional Magistrate under Section 155(2) of the CrPC to investigate non-cognizable offences. The High Court also emphasized that investigating officers should recognize that even non-cognizable offences are punishable and are duty-bound to investigate such offences thoroughly.
Despite this directive, the Police Department has not been following the order. In Criminal Writ Petition No. 544 of 2024, the petitioner lodged a complaint with the Sonegaon Police Station on November 7, 2023, against unidentified individuals for creating two fake email IDs and sending defamatory emails to over 300 people. The complainant also reported that one of the accused impersonated an employee of the same company where the complainant works.
Sonegaon Police Station identified the perpetrators and transferred the case to the Cyber Police Station. Unfortunately, the Cyber Police Station registered a Non-Cognizable Report (NCR) on May 15, 2024, and did not seek permission from the Magistrate to investigate further, contrary to the High Court’s orders.
