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One word can change one's fate
 A
close study of many of the acquitted criminal cases reveal the fact that such
acquittal is very often mainly due to discrepancies in the first information
report (FIR). To buttress this allegation against the policemen, the Madras High
Court had recently granted bail to journalist ‘Nakkeeran’ Gopal in a POTA
case citing the discrepancies in the FIR and the subsequent documents.
The Tamil Nadu CB-CID, who deal
with this sensitive case under POTA, had handled the case so casually and
without proper application of mind that while informing the seizure of weapons,
it had mentioned three types: the word revolver in a telegram, country-made
pistol in the FIR and country-made gun in the alteration report.
While granting bail, the High
Court had observed, “Had the recovery of a particular weapon been really made,
there could not have been a discrepancy of such a nature which is vital and
crucial.”
If this is the nature of the
lapse by the police even in a very sensitive political case in which the Chief
Minister is interested, it is anybody’s guess what would be the fate of
ordinary criminal cases.
While cancelling the bail
granted by the High Court, the Supreme Court had observed that the documents
relied upon by the High Court were in Tamil and the other documents, in English.
The police officer who translated the documents into English might have wrongly
translated the name of the weapon.
Even though the Supreme Court
has said that it was unfortunate that such a serious lapse had taken place, the
commission of such serious lapses were not uncommon to our policemen. The case
has been dealt with by officers in the rank of inspector of police and deputy
superintendent of police. There are as many as four learned IPS officers in the
CB-CID to oversee the functions of the CID: A superintendent of police, a DIG,
an IG and overall an additional DGP too. How such a lapse could not be rectified
by these four learned IPS officers is surprising.
 This
is not the sole case to show the inept handling of documentary evidence by the
police. An analysis of most of the murder cases reveal the fact that a majority
of the cases lead to acquittal for the main reason that the policemen had not
handled them properly and committed many serious lapses while providing the
documents and other evidence.
A few years ago, the wife of a
retired state government officer, who has been practising as an advocate, was
murdered in the Pondy Bazaar police limit. The accused was a teenage boy living
in the same apartment. His fingerprint was tallied and the jewels of the
deceased were also recovered after the arrest. But due to discrepancies in the
documentary evidence, the benefit of the doubt was given in favour of the
accused and the criminal boy was acquitted.
The main reason for this malady
is that very often police officers who are not well-versed in law are involved
in investigating criminal cases. All police officers possess degrees of one kind
or another which are in no way connected with their profession and so their
intellectual input for police work is very small indeed.
Besides
making arrests, the policemen also act as the prosecutor to conduct the
prosecution of the case in the courts of law. The success in prosecution largely
depends on the promptness and ability with which the investigation is conducted
by the policemen. The prosecution must come forward with all material evidences,
complete in all respects, to prove the charge against the accused.
It is, therefore, necessary for
a prosecutor to have thorough knowledge of substantive and procedural law of
crime.
So, a second degree exclusively
in police-oriented subjects should be awarded to all the police officers,
including those in the higher ranks. Although there are many degree courses
covering several parts of the system of criminal justice and comparative
studies, there is dearth of facilities for studying the criminal justice system
as a whole from the point of view of law-making and police action, and
rehabilitation. There can be little doubt that the fusion of such intellectual
power with practical knowledge would provide considerable enlightenment and
enable policemen to cope with the challenges.
Harvey
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