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PETITIONER: RAGHBIR SINGH

       Vs.

RESPONDENT: STATE OF HARYANA

DATE OF JUDGMENT31/03/1980

BENCH: KRISHNAIYER, V.R. BENCH: KRISHNAIYER, V.R. VENKATARAMIAH, E.S. (J)

CITATION:  1980 AIR 1087            1980 SCR  (3) 277  1980 SCC  (3)  70

ACT:      Criminal trial-Death of a suspect in police custody-Use of  third   degree  methods   by  police  in  investigation- Disapproved.

HEADNOTE:      The  prosecution   alleged  that   the  petitioner,  an Assistant Sub-Inspector  of Police,  subjected  one  of  the suspects in  a  theft  case  to  severe  flagellation  which resulted in the death of the suspect. Medical examination of the deceased revealed that death was due to asphyxiation.      On   a    study   of    the   circumstances   and   the incontrovertible  facts  of  flagellation  and  asphyxiation within police  premises and  the testimony of eye witnesses, the trial  court found  the petitioner guilty of the offence with which  he was charged and sentenced him to imprisonment for life.  His explanation  that death  was due  to suicidal hanging was  rejected by  the trial  court as well as by the High Court.      Dismissing the petition, ^      HELD: There  was no error either in the appreciation of evidence or the conclusion reached by the courts below. [278 D]      [It is  disturbing to  find  diabolical  recurrence  of police tortures  resulting in  a terrible scare in the minds of common  citizens that their lives and liberty are under a new peril when the guardians of the law gore human rights to death. Police  lock-ups are  becoming more  and more awesome cells. This  development is  disastrous to  the human rights awareness and the humanist constitutional order.] [278 E]

JUDGMENT:      CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Special Leave Petition (Crl.) No. 679/1980. F      From the  Judgment and  order dated  6-12-1979  of  the Punjab & Haryana High Court in Crl. A. No. 880/78.      A. N.  Mulla, T.  L. Garg  and N.  D.  Garg    for  the Petitioner.      The order of the Court was delivered by

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    KRISHNA IYER,  J., The  criminal scenario with a tragic crescendo which  has been  unfurled in  this  Special  Leave Petition starts with’ a bunch of ’suspects’ being brought up to the police post which was in charge of the petitioner, an Assistant Sub-Inspector.  A case  of theft  in some officers house had been reported to the police the previous night and so as  part of the investigation the suspects were picked up and suffered  as part  of  the  process  of  ’investigation’ severe flagellation.  Chhabila, one  of those  so  tortured, succumbed to his injuries. This 278 triggered off  investigation into  the murderous  conduct of the  investigator,  the  petitioner,  and  another.  Medical examination  revealed   the  cruel   cause   of   death   as asphyxiation. One  of the  injuries which,  according to the doctor, made  the deceased  unconscious was  torture on both the soles of the foot of the victim. A trial for murder fol. lowed, a  conviction under  s. 302  was enter and eventually the High Court confirmed the conviction and sentence of life imprisonment so far as the petitioner was concerned. A false explanation of  suicidal hanging  was set  up by  the police officer-accused but  this was  rejected and  eventually on a study of the circumstances and the incontrovertible facts of flagellation and asphyxiation within police premises and the testimony of  eyewitnesses about  nocturnal detention within the police  station and beating up of the victim, the courts below concurrently  found the guilt of the petitioner proved beyond reasonable  doubt. Strenuous  submissions  have  been made to  us by  Shri  Mulla  to  discredit  the  prosecution version of murder but we are not in the least convinced that there is any error in the appreciation or the conclusion.      We are deeply disturbed by the diabolical recurrence of police torture  resulting in  a terrible scarce in the minds of common  citizens that their lives and liberty are under a new peril when the guardians of the law gore human rights to death.  The   vulnerability  of   human  rights   assumes  a traumatic, torture  some poignancy when violent violation is perpetrated by the police arm of the State whose function is to protect  the citizen  and not to commit gruesome offences against them as has happened in this case, Police lock-up if reports  in  newspapers  have  a  streak  of  credence,  are becoming more  and more  awesome cells.  This development is disastrous  to  our  human  rights  awareness  and  humanist constitutional order.      The State,  at the highest administrative and political levels, we hope, will organise special strategies to prevent and punish  brutality by  police methodology. Otherwise, the credibility of the rule of law in our Republic vis-a-vis the people of the country will deteriorate.      We conclude  with the  disconcerting  note  sounded  by Abraham Lincoln:      "If you  once forfeit  the confidence  of  your  fellow      citizens you can never regain their respect and esteem.      It is  true   that you  can fool all the people some of      the time,  and some of the people all the time, but you      cannot fool all the people all the time. 279 These observations  have become  necessary to  impress upon’ the State   police  echelons the urgency of stamping out the vice of ’third degree’ from the investigative armoury of the police. P. B. R.                                 Petition dismissed. 280

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