Deepali Kalia-
Published on August 04, 2021, at 07:10 PM
The Jharkhand High Court while accepting the State Government’s recommendation of transferring the Judge Uttam Anand death case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) asked many significant questions to the Investigation Agency.
A Bench of the Chief Justice Ravi Ranjan and Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad carefully read through the affidavit filed by the Director-General of Police (DGP) and head of the Special Investigation Team (SIT).
The Court observed upon carefully reading the post-mortem report and questionnaire framed by Mr. Vinay Kumar, the Investigation Officer that when from the CCTV footage the entire scene was pretty clear and the post-mortem report also stated that the injury was caused by ‘hard and blunt substance’ then why was the doctor asked ‘whether the injuries in the head are possible by fall on the road surface or not?’
Hence, the Court stated that a particular question was being fed to get a particular answer which wasn’t appreciated.
The CCTV footage of the incident went viral within about 2-4 hours and the injured judge was taken to a private hospital at 5:30 am then, the Bench significantly asked, why the FIR was registered at 12:45 pm and only after the complaint was filed by the wife of the deceased.
The Court remarked, “The CCTV must be regularly being monitored by police. The Doctors of the Hospital must also have informed the police then why the police became active only after the complaint being lodged by the wife of Judicial Officer becomes questionable.”
Advocate General Mr. Rajiv Ranjan Mishra and the DGP were also asked by the Court about the steps that have been taken to provide security to the Civil Court, Dhanbad and residential premises of the judicial officers in Dhanbad.
The duo assured the Court that promptly adequate security will be provided in the court premises and residential premises of the Judgeship of Dhanbad and other districts and it would be brought to the Court’s notice.
A progress report by the Investigation Agency in the case was asked by the Court to be produced before it on or before the next date of hearing. The matter has been listed for further hearing on 12th August.
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