The Jharkhand High Court ruled on Tuesday that the Jharkhand police attempted to shield those accused of lynching Rupesh Pandey as per a report by Lagatar24. The Court also directed the CBI to take over the case for a fair inquiry and justice. “Prima facie it appears that police are not investigating the matter independently and are being influenced at the behest of some persons. Incident was so alarming that the Human Right Commission and Commission for Children have also taken cognizance and they sent their representatives to Hazaribagh district of that area,” the court order read.
The Court was hearing a criminal writ suit which was filed by now deceased Pandey’s mother Urmila Devi. Justice Sanjay Kumar Dwivedi meanwhile pondered that even if the charge sheet in the case was not produced within 90 days, why the committee of higher officials of the police had not reviewed the matter. The court also made serious remarks about the rising threat of mob lynching.
The single justice bench noted that the police presented a charge sheet against just five people out of the 27 alleged accused. The state remained evasive in its explanation to the court of the efforts taken to conclude the investigation. Furthermore, the court questioned the veracity of the counter-FIR submitted by a member of the opposing Muslim group. It was filed two days after the lynching of Rupesh Pandey.
“In such a case which has taken place by way of mob lynching what step senior police officers have taken to conclude the investigation at the earliest, that has not been disclosed in the counter-affidavit. When the incident took place on February 6, 2022, the entire police administration, as well as the district administration, swung into action, why the arson case made by another community, has not been registered on the same day, raising eyebrows on the police and on the complaint by another community another F.I.R. was registered on February 8,” the court quoted.
Rupesh Pandey was lynched by a mob of Islamists in the middle of a ruckus when a Saraswati Visarjan procession was passing from Lakhna Dulmaha Imambada of the Nai Taand village in Hazaribagh on February 6. The 17-year-old son of Sikandar Pandey, who was part of the religious procession, was badly beaten amid the ruckus. He was declared dead when taken to the hospital.
According to the exclusive report by Lagatar 24, the deceased’s family had met Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and demanded a CBI investigation into the case. The court stated, about a counter-affidavit filed by the state government, that the state attempted to justify that the inquiry was proceeding on the proper path.
“Paragraph 59 of the counter-affidavit, who has sworn the affidavit has stated therein that investigating agency to proceed in its manner in the interrogation of the accused and that in course of investigation to be adopted in a particular case should be left to the discretion and wisdom of the investigating agency. The question remains if such statement is being made on affidavit by the Investigating Officer before the Court which suggests that the Investigating Officer has to say that inquiry should be left to the discretion of the said I.O. which is negated by the Court in view of the judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of Sidhartha Vashisht and Manu Sharma,” the court stated.
The court also stated that if something is being hidden by the police and that if the constitutional courts come to the opinion that a specific case has to be handed over to the specialised agency, it has the authority to do so. The bench however acknowledged that the CBI is overloaded and that the court should not regularly refer cases to the CBI. “It must be used only in rare instances, such as when it is necessary to establish credibility and trust in investigations, or when such an order is required to accomplish complete justice and enforce basic rights”, the bench added.
The bench meanwhile also mentioned a string of post-election violence in West Bengal in which workers of an opposition party were slain, and it ordered a CBI inquiry to ensure a fair investigation. Justice Sanjay Dwivedi noted that West Bengal had a similar situation in which there was a disturbance when political party activists were slain. “A similar issue occurred when the victims’ families did not trust the state police”, the court said.
Further, the court also recognized mob lynching as a serious crime and said that the threat of mob lynching was increasing. According to the court, mob violence and criminality committed by self-appointed keepers of public morals scare ordinary people without legal punishment, resulting in loss of life and property devastation.
Earlier, the mother of now-deceased Rupesh Pandey had demanded a CBI inquiry in the case and had said that she was dissatisfied with the Police investigation. She had demanded strict action against the culprits who murdered Rupesh during the Saraswati Puja Visarjan procession in Jharkhand. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of India had also taken cognizance of the brutal murder of Rupesh Pandey and had sought an action report from the Police in the case.
