Bilaspur(CG, India): In a shocking decision, the High Court has termed the preliminary inquiry conducted before registering an FIR in cases of the SC/ST Act as illegal and wrong.
“No preliminary investigation can be done under the SC-ST act, and initiation of preliminary inquiry conducted by the police is illegal and bad in law”, High Court stated in its order.
The court was hearing a case of a Dalit Sarpanch Chandrashekhar Manjhwar who had registered a complaint against the CEO Janpad Panchayat Gopal Prasad Mishra. In his complaint, Chandrashekhar Manjhwar has alleged that he has made a complaint on 09.03.2021 against Gopal Mishra in the SC-ST act police station, Korba. According to him, he was insulted, humiliated, and abused by Mishra for his caste.
However, the Police department has initiated the preliminary inquiry against Gopal Mishra and found that all the allegations were motivated and false. In their inquiry, it was submitted before the court that the Sarpanch has been accused in a case of corruption. It is being investigated by the CEO Gopal Mishra, so in repercussions of the investigation, Manjhwar had filed a false complaint against Mishra.
Although the court realized that no preliminary inquiry is required(in SC-ST Act) to file an FIR. Justice Narendra Kumar Vyas in his judgment said that the initiation of preliminary inquiry conducted by the police is illegal and bad in law, which is liable to be quashed.
The court has ordered to file an FIR against Mishra and clears that preliminary investigation is illegal under the provisions of the SC-ST act.
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