District Court, Gurgaon: In a complaint filed by two persons who were made accused in a matter involving Section 379A read with Section 34 of Penal Code, 1860 against the in-charge and other police officials of Crime Investigation Agency (‘CIA’) regarding custodial torture, Judicial Magistrate First Class, Vikrant J. took the instant complaint as an application under Section 156(3) of Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (‘CrPC’) and directed the Commissioner of Police to take necessary legal action as per law.
Background
It was alleged that both the complainants with their two friends sitting in a park outside their house when a White color Bolero car with black glasses having a broken number plate arrived. On seeing the said car, two of them ran away, while the complainants remained. It was alleged that 3-4 muscular men in civil dress came out of the car and started beating them. They forcibly threw them in Bolero car, tied their hands and legs, snatched their mobile phones and then again beat them mercilessly.
The complainants’ family members were not informed about the arrest, and they were threatened that if they complained to the higher authorities, they would be beaten more and implicated in other cases. The beating was followed by providing medication and food. All of this prompted the complainants to open up and put forth their grievance.
One of the complainants stated that he was beaten on inner areas of his body. He had displayed the injury marks by removing his pants and shirts, and the said marks were also corroborated by the medical examination report.
Case of Custodial Torture
The Court acknowledged that “it takes extraordinary courage for an accused to speak out for the atrocities committed by any police official. Simply because the allegations are coming from the mouth of the accused should not be the reason to outrightly disbelieve him.” The Court was cautious that the allegations were made regarding custodial torture against the CIA unit in-charge and its officials, being a grave violation of human rights. The Court expressed that “such an act of any police official is beyond the scope of authority which empowers him to arrest and keep custody of any person despite his fundamental right to freedom and liberty.”
The Court explained that custodial torture was not part of the official duty, and thus, no immunity could be claimed under Section 197 of CrPC. It pointed towards the allegations made in the instant complaint to be in prima facie violation of guidelines issued in D.K. Basu v. State of W.B., (1997) 1 SCC 416. The Court cited D. Devaraja v. Owais Sabeer Hussain, (2020) 7 SCC 695 to support argument against the custodial torture and ill treatment as against the official duty.
Therefore, the Court took the instant complaint as an application under Section 156(3) of CrPC stating the allegations as grave in nature, calling for an immediate and necessary legal action for discovering the truth. It further directed the Commissioner of Police to take necessary legal action as per CrPC and submit the action taken report.
[Rahul v. State, 2023 SCC OnLine Dis Crt (Haryana) 5, Order dated 5-10-2023]
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