Post-498a- Getting a fair investigation done!

To get police to do a fair investigation is a very crucial step to have a chance of getting a B-report(clean chit) from the police(like in Prashant's case: http://ipc498a.wordpress.com/2008/06/07/investigative-excellence-the-closing-of-the-498a-case-against-actor-prashant ).

Do not think its rare so unworthy trying for, only if more and more people pursue and attain this, will the system as a whole get cleansed. So try it with all your might, if not a B-report the chargesheet will be full of investigative points favourable to you, which is good enough to get clean in court and then book the law miusers in court.

But approaching HC for getting fair investigation alone could be avoided if people are aware of some effective alternatives which were discussed in this forum some time back. The discussions earlier were about submitting evidences and investigation points(possible witnesses, facts, etc., which if investigated will be in favour of the accused) from the accused side.

The accused have to submit these evidences, etc. to the investigation officer(Copy to higher police officials, to keep up the pressure and to ensure a supervised process) and get an ackowledgement copy of these submissions.

The judgement mentioned in the post below(of Madhya Pradesh High Court about evidences provided by accused has to be incorporated in the chargesheet/final report the police submits to the court)also should be cited along with the evidences submitted by the accused for additonal pressure on the police to comply and do a fair investigation.

If and when the chargesheet is submitted to the court without incorporating the findings of such investigations(As pointed out by the submissions of accused), the accused should point out this descrepancy to the court/higher police officials and the court/higher police officials in turn can order the police to further investigate in the line of the submitted facts/investigation points by accused.

This procedure is desirable than a long drawn 482 proceeding(for just getting a fair investigation done) , which should be attempted only as a last refuge(after doing the above said procedures).

This should be our next action point since pre-498a scenario is now controllable with the delhi/hyderabad police circulars and the latest chennai HC guidelines(http://at498a.blogspot.com/2008/04/arrest-guidelines-in-case-of.html)

Now we have to find that judgement, so that it can be attached to the submissions which an accused can give the police station, higher-ups, courts etc.

Lets make this system water tight from all sides possible.

The next step is to get the courts to conduct cases in a timely and effective manner, some study of the court system(processes involved : cradle to grave of a any case) is needed. After which we can volunteer as NGOs for implementing the findings of the study( to make the system and its processes optimum and effective). We had thought of video conferencing and confirmation of date by mobile/sms etc as some avenues of making the system effective- this is the need of the hour, since the pain after bail is of the futility and drudgery of courts!.

We need to do a System overhaul... if not we, who else?!, if not for our children... .


--- In saveindianfamily@yahoogroups.com, its your guy wrote:

Section 482 can be used for purposes more than just quashing. 482 section is a
vast section which gives immense powers to the HC and many things can be done
through this section apart from quashing.

In a Petition u/s 482 for Fair Investigation and quashing filled by accused
husband the Madhya Pradesh High Court has ordered the Police to consider all the
doccuments provided by the accussed to the Police in his defense and to make all
these doccuments a part of the challan/charge sheet even though the
challan/charge sheet was already filled by the police without these doccuments.
The doccuments provided by the husband were Photographs of happy married life,
his earlier police complaints regarding threats of false cases, telephone
conversations of his wife, and many other bills and doccuments which proved his
innocence and also disproved the allegations by the wife..

This is a landmark case and all 498A guys should approach the Police and then
the high court demanding FAIR INVESTIGATION u/s 482. Demand for justice/ fair
investigation should be put up before the Police before they File the charge
sheet.

Regards

Preparing to Defend your legal problems

Understand the false case against you is just another problem, which can and need to be solved

Analyse the FIR and their statements for contradictions within(statements and written statements at different times may have contradictions, example incidents, weights, numbers etc.).

Pick up allegations against which you have evidence on the contrary, and put a petition to Police station and DCP in-charge asking them to investigate on these lines and to submit final report accordingly.

The Police can bring out three types of Final Reports(in which case the complaint will not be prosecuted in the Court, since the allegations are not maintainable at a court of law) as follows 1) Type A Final-Evidence of Allegations is not enough to be tried in the court 2) Type B final- Allegations are false, hence need not be tried in court 3) Investigation on the Allegations are inconclusive, so need not/cannot be tried in the court. Though these are technically possible, the police does not bother to neither take the responsibility of investigating not defending such conclusions by them!. But it is your right to get a proper report on the above lines and avoid court trials/litigation.

For the court to try/prosecute you, the police should be submitting a "Charge-Sheet, usually even in this case the police seldom come out with any inference of their own, they just compile all allegations and statements from the complainant and all the counters and statements from the accused and avoid taking any responsibility.

If you suspect any bias in the authorities against you, send petitions to higher authorities, while keeping the erring personnel a copy of your petitions so that its acts as a pressure to act in accordance to justice. See a related post here: http://bok498a.blogspot.com/2006/08/post-498a-scenario-when-passport-is.html .

To come up with specific ways to counter your specific problems, first you have to think with a problem-solving attitude, and not panic or be despondent. You know the ways to get out, only if you think calmly. All the best.