SC orders UP DGP to form SIT to probe unnatural death of woman in Saharanpur

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday quashed a suicide abatement case against a man and directed the Uttar Pradesh DGP to constitute a special investigation team to investigate the unnatural death of a woman who died in Saharanpur district.

A bench of Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and justices Sanjay Kumar and K V Viswanathan said it is intriguing that the police authorities, merely by recording the statements of the woman's relatives, proceeded to file a chargesheet against the appellant.

"Was there anything more sinister? Even if it was suicide, what was the real cause? Was the deceased Tanu distraught with what happened to her friend Ziaul Rahman? Considering the under-currents and the disapproval of the relationship, was there any instigation for the suicide from any other quarter? "Did the deceased Tanu resort to the extreme action of taking her own life due to the ugly turn of the events and due to the fact that her family members were suspected to be involved? We have no answers today," the bench said.

The court also said that only an independent, thorough and comprehensive investigation will bring to light the true story.

The chargesheet appears to have proceeded in an unidimensional manner by accepting the version of the complainant and his family members as the gospel truth, the bench said.

The court directed the director general of police (DGP), law and order, Uttar Pradesh, to constitute a special investigation team (SIT) headed by an officer of the level of deputy inspector general of police to investigate the unnatural death of the woman.

"We authorise the special investigation team to treat the FIR registered in crime No. 367 of 2022 at Rampur Maniharan police station, Saharanpur district, as one of unnatural death. We further grant them liberty to re-register the FIR if they deem it appropriate.

"We direct that the reinvestigation report shall be placed before this court in a sealed cover within a period of two months from today," the bench said.

Saharanpur police had booked four family members of a 20-year-old woman in 2022 for allegedly beating to death a youth who had gone to their house in Islamnagar village. Hours after the youth died during treatment at a hospital, the woman allegedly died by suicide.

Police said the woman and the youth, 20, were neighbours and reportedly in a relationship.

The investigating officer had said the post-mortem report of Zia-ur-Rehman concluded that his death occurred due to ante-mortem injuries.

According to police, they got information that a youth was found lying unconscious after being thrashed in Islamnagar village. A police team took him to a hospital where he died during treatment.

"In our inquiry, we came to know that Tanu Saini's family caught Zia who had entered their house by scaling the boundary wall. The woman's family allegedly beat up Zia with sticks and he fell unconscious," the investigating officer had said.

Later, the police got to know that Tanu had allegedly hanged herself at her house. A police team reached her house and broke open the door to find her hanging from a ceiling fan.