- (1.) THESE two applications are being taken up for hearing together and are being disposed of by this order as the matter is substantially the same.
(2.) THE background of the case is that one public interest litigation was filed before the Hon'ble the Acting Chief Justice and hon'ble Justice M. H. S. Ansari by the General Secretary, Association for Protection of democratic Rights, Calcutta for a writ in the nature of habeas corpus for production of one boy, namely, Pinter Yadav who allegedly had been secreted in an unknown place by the respondents of the said petition since his detention in police custody, and a writ of mandamus directing the CBI to investigate/ enquire into the case against the respondents or any other erring police officials. Pinter Yadav and one Manjit Jadav both under 16 years of age were brought before the o. C, Pradhan Nagar Police Outpost after they were arrested near Tenzing Bus Terminus without complying with the directives issued by the Supreme Court in Dilip Kr. Basu v. State of West Bengal reported in 1997 (1) SCC 416 : (1997 Cri LJ 743) and were subjected to inhuman torture in the police station. Pinter Jadav fell seriously ill. Manjit protested against such inhuman ill-treatment upon Pinter by the officer but he was assaulted and removed to Siliguri police station to be secreted therein. Family members of the two boys searched for them at various places including the police stations at Siliguri and Pradhan Nagar police outpost but it was later found that Manjit was illegally detained in Siliguri Thana Lock up, while whereabouts of Pinter Jadav could not be traced. Allegedly, a dead body supposed to be that of Pinter was cremated after keeping some photographs but his identity could not be established. The Superintendent of Police and the present petitioner ram Chandra Singh told contradictory stories. The S. P. told that on 5th May, 1999 two boys were brought in front of Pradhan nagar outpost by one Pritam Debnath and other members of the public from nearby bus station. On suspicion of being lifter one of the two boys who was elder was sent to sub-divisional Hospital, Siliguri as he was found sweating, while the younger boy was taken to Siliguri police station who disclosed his name as Tinkoo Jadav Later the boy was taken out by his mother from Siliguri P. S. As against this, the version of the present petitioner and the officer in-charge of the police outpost at Pradhan Nagar was that none of the boys were at all arrested in pradhan Nagar Outpost; on the contrary, considering the illness of the elder boy he was transferred to Siliguri hospital for treatment while another boy was made over to siliguri police station and due to absence of disclosure of the identity of the two boys no step could be taken for informing the guardian of the boys. Before the Hon'ble Court manjit and the mother of Pinter were produced and they were shown the two photographs of a dead body bearing signs of injury. The mother of Pinter said that said photographs were not of her son. The age of the deceased was shown as 32 but later changed to 18. What happened to Pinter remained a mystery. The police authorities did not make any serious attempt to ascertain the whereabouts of the minor boy. The hon'ble Court held that if the story told by the Superintendent of Police was correct, then the boys committed offence in which case they could have been arrested and first information report lodged, but even no general diary was recorded. The Hon'ble Court observed that the conduct of the police officers of the district was such that it did not inspile. Their Lordship's confidence. The police authorities went to the extent of threatening the family members of victim. The post mortem report appears to have been interpolated and the fact is that a second opinion was obtained by the Dy. Superintendent of Police to show that post mortem report was not wholly reliable. Accordingly, by the 17 page judgment the hon'ble Court directed that the investigation into the matter be carried out by the cbi. This order was passed on 23rd September, 1999. Then CBI took up the investigation of the case.
(3.) NOW CBI have their own Manual and in terms of Manual before registering a case they conduct a preliminary enquiry. The purpose of conducting a preliminary enquiry is, as I find from the extract of the Manual, that sometimes registration of a case on the basis of information becomes not justified which is why a preliminary enquiry is undertaken and upon finding out that an offence has been committed a regular case is registered. It has been observed in the manual that a preliminary enquiry may be converted into a regular case as soon as sufficient materials becomes available to show that prima facie there has been commission of a cognizable offence. In this case a preliminary enquiry was conducted, and then a regular case was registered which followed investigation which in turn culminated into the submission of charge sheet against the present petitioner and one pradyut Chandra Das under Sections 304 (11)/330/341 and under Sections 343 and 323, IPC respectively. Investigation revealed the following : - "the investigation has revealed that Pinter yadav, aged about 15-16 years and Manjit gowala aged about 9-10 years had left their houses on 5-5-1999 for witnessing a movie in Siliguri. At about 1100 hrs. they were apprehended by the public at Siliguri Bus stand on allegation of theft. One Pritam debnath of Bus Operators Association brought them to Pradhan Nagar Outpost. The boys walked along with Pritam Debnath without any problem and they were physically all right. They were produced before sub-Inspector Karma Lama of Pradhan nagar Outpost. Sub-Inspector Ram Chandra singh (A. 1) Officer in-charge of Pradhan nagar Outpost arrived after a short while and he assaulted the elder boy Pinter Yadav with lathi and also kicked and slapped him in order to extract some confession from pinter Yadav. Pinter Yadav suddenly became ill due to such beating and vomited blood. When the condition of Pinter Yadav became serious Ram Chandra Singh (A. 1) sought instruction from Inspector Pradyut Chandra das under whose jurisdiction Pradhan Nagar outpost falls. SI Ram Chandra Singh (A. 1)took Pinter Yadav out of the Outpost and crossed the road asked one auto driver abhijit Ghosh @ Asit Ghosh to take the boy to Sub-Divisional Hospital, Siliguri. He also asked a cobbler Ashok Chowdhury, basuram who used to sit in front of the Outpost to assist Ajit Ghosh. SI Ram Chandra singh (A. 1) also called two rickshaw pullers raju Roy and Bimal Bose and told them to take the boy to the Hospital. In the Hospital they told the Hospital staff that the patient was sent by the Incharge of Pradhan Nagar outpost and he was admitted in the Hospital vide Head Ticket No. 7182 as Hindu male of age as 32 years. According to the Hospital staff they mentioned the age as 32 years as told by the person who brought Pinter yadav to Hospital. The boy died on 6-5-1999 at about 0945 hours. On the information of ward Master Nemai Mondal of Siliguri Sub division Hospital, UD Case No. 127/99 was registered at Siliguri P. S. and ASI P. C. Dutta enquired into UD case. The ASI conducted the inquest and mentioned the age as 18-19 years. Thereafter, post mortem examination was conducted on the dead body and it was preserved for 7 days for identification. However, sufficient publicity was not given regarding the death of Pinter Yadav by the police officials and as a result the relatives of Pinter Yadav remained in dark regarding his death. When nobody came forward to identify the dead body it was buried by hospital authority in the mass burial ground. ;