Karnataka HC orders inquiry against inspector for not filing FIR

The High Court of Karnataka has ordered the state police chief to hold a departmental inquiry against inspector Praveen K Y, the station house officer (SHO) of the Cottonpet police station in April 2022, for not registering an FIR despite a magisterial order.

Lawful orders passed by the judicial authority are required to be scrupulously enforced by the police and a failure to do so constitutes a constitutional tort arising out of a breach of a fundamental right of access to justice for the victims of crime, Justice M Nagaprasanna noted.

M Prakash had filed a civil suit in 2020 seeking the partition of family properties. He alleged that one Vinayaka M broke open the doors of his house on March 26, 2021, and took away valuables. Prakash said the act was to threaten and force him to withdraw the partition suit.

On Prakash’s private complaint, the magistrate ordered the police on April 29, 2021, to register an FIR and issued a reminder on July 26, 2022. The petitioner moved the high court seeking the transfer of the investigation to the hands of any other police officer or agency.

Misplaced file

The government advocate claimed that the FIR was registered the moment the misplaced file was traced. It was also stated that the inspector who had mishandled the file had been placed under suspension and the incumbent (Balraj G) had filed an affidavit.

The high court noted that while the certified copy of the magistrate’s order reached the Cottonpet police on May 4, 2022, the FIR was registered only on October 18, 2022.

Justice Nagaprasanna observed that the registration of the crime with an inordinate delay would disclose culpable negligence on the part of the law enforcement agency in compliance with the lawful order passed by the magistrate.

“Such breach amounts to serious misconduct and gross dereliction of duty justifying the imposition of a major penalty. Such gross dereliction of official duty by law enforcement agencies cannot be countenanced," the court said.

"The failure to register the crime by the then officer in charge of the Cottonpet police station cannot be brushed aside as a mere loss of file and tracing of it. The said officer cannot and should not be left off the hook, more so, in the light of the affidavit admitting such dereliction of duty filed by the state,” the court added.

Considering that the charge sheet has been filed in the case on January 7, 2023, the court directed the police to file a compliance report on the departmental inquiry to be conducted within three months.