Madras High Court advices Chennai Commissioner of Police not to send investigating officers on bandobust duty

Representational image. File | Photo Credit: B. Jothi Ramalingam

The Madras High Court, on Monday (June 9, 2025) advised Greater Chennai City Commissioner of Police (CoP) A. Arun to ensure officers investigating criminal cases do not get diverted for any other work such as providing bandobust (security) for public events/VIPs so that the investigating officers (IOs) could devote their time and conclude the investigations as early as possible.

Justice P. Velmurugan said, he would summon Director General of Police/Head of Police Force Shankar Jiwal too in an appropriate case and give a similar advice so that it could be followed by police officers across Tamil Nadu. The judge said, it was high time the judiciary and the police department worked in tandem to reduce the pendency of criminal cases.

The judge also told State Public Prosecutor Hasan Mohamed Jinnah there were discrepancies between the data maintained by the police department and the judiciary with respect to disposal of criminal cases. He said, most of the times, the police close criminal cases by terming them as ‘mistake of fact’ but that does not get reflected in the judicial records.

He added in some cases, the police complete investigation and file final reports but that information does not find place in judicial records because the courts do not take those reports on file. Mr. Arun told the court the discrepancies could be sorted out if the Principal District Judges and Superintendents of Police conduct monthly meetings to crosscheck the data.

Concurring with him, Justice Velmurugan said, such practice of conducting monthly meetings do not appear to be followed in many districts. After asking Mr. Arun to set things right at his end in coordination with the trial courts, the judge told the Commissioner that any non-cooperation on the part of the judicial officers could be brought to his notice so that he could issue appropriate directions.

“The poor and illiterate people do not know the legal procedures beyond the process of lodging police complaints. Therefore, it is essential that the criminal justice system works for their benefit and it does not take years together even for a simple criminal case to reach its logical conclusion. Let us do something to make sure that justice is delivered at the earliest,” the judge told the CoP.

He asked the officer to submit fresh data by July 8 regarding the pending criminal cases within Chennai city limits along with statistics related to those under investigation, the cases in which final reports had been filed, the cases that were pending trial and so on. The direction was issued after the Commissioner was summoned to the court in connection with non registration of a SC/ST case.

Mr. Jinnah told the court that though the writ petitioner V. Vanamalai had produced a copy of a communication sent by the National Commission for Scheduled Castes calling for an action taken report from the CoP on the petitioner’s complaint, the Commissionerate had not received any such communication. Though the NCSC had claimed to have sent it by e-mail, no such e-mail had been received, he said.

After hearing the SPP, the judge asked him to make the submissions by way of a counter affidavit by June 23 so that appropriate orders could be passed on the writ petition.

Published - June 09, 2025 03:07 pm IST