Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Feb 14: Jammu and Kashmir High Court today directed the police to handover the investigation into the killing of Tufail Matoo to State Crime Branch.
The court directed the CB that an official of the rank of Superintendent of Police (SP) shall only investigate into the case and submit his report within eight weeks.
A Single Bench of High Court headed by Justice Virender Singh after hearing a petition on the death of Matoo, a Class 12th student from Nishat, in firing incident in June 2010, passed the directions to Director General of Police to handover the present case to State Crime Branch.
“DGP is directed to hand over the investigation of the present case to State Crime Branch with a further direction that an officer with the rank of Superintendent of Police (SP) only shall conduct the investigation of the case and submit report within eight weeks,” directed the court.
The court pulled up the police for not properly investigating the case as it should have been done.
“By submitting the closure report before this court, it appears that the matter has not been investigated in a direction it should have been done. A criminal case is totally dependent upon the investigation and in case the investigation is not conducted properly, fairly it will result into the grave miscarriage of justice,” the court said.
The Bench quashed the order of the Special Mobile Magistrate which had directed to close the investigation after police’s Special Investigation Team (SIT) had its status report.
Tufail Matoo was killed in a firing allegedly by security forces in June 2010 at Nishat and police had filed FIR Number 70/2010 PS Maharaj Gunj and another FIR was registered in police station Nowhatta under section 302 RPC.
The bench further directed the Crime Branch that it is at liberty to move a formal application before Special Mobile Magistrate, Srinagar, for taking the entire already submitted record of investigation into their possession.
“The entire record of investigation already submitted before it by SIT resulting into closer of case as it may facilitate the Crime Branch to proceed ahead with the investigation afresh,” the bench directed.
The counsel for petitioner, Mian Qayoom, after referring various judgments of Supreme Court submitted that a person who lodged the FIR is entitled to hearing when on the basis of police report.
He pointed out that Magistrate instead of taking cognizance of offence prefers to drop the proceedings.
“Without entering into the other flows, in my considered view, the basic flow of not issuing notice to first informant while accepting the closer report and dropping the proceedings of the present case goes to the bottom to make the impugned order unsustainable,” the bench observed.
Advocate Riyaz Ahmad Khan appeared for the State.
Follow our WhatsApp channel