Trying Very Hard To Manipulate Investigation: Madhya Pradesh High Court Refuses To Quash FIR In Rape Case, Orders Transfer Of Accused Head Constable

The Court dismissed an Application filed under Section 482 of the CrPC by the accused seeking to quash the FIR registered under Sections 342 and 376 of the IPC.

A Single Bench of Justice GS Ahluwalia held that “Under these circumstances, it is clear that applicant is still playing an influential role and is trying very hard to manipulate investigation. When there is serious allegation of rape against applicant, it was expected from the Police that it should have acted in a free and fair manner, but unfortunately they have miserably failed to discharge their duties and applicant is still playing an dominating role in manipulating the investigation.”

Advocate Deepak Shrivastava appeared for the Applicant, while Public Prosecutor Mohit Shivhare represented the Respondents.

Brief Facts

The FIR was lodged by the victim alleging that she was raped by the accused. The Prosecution stated that a dispute involving her the victim’s husband and younger brother-in-law led to the accused coming to record the victim’s husband's statement, during which, the victim became acquainted with the accused The Prosecution further alleged that the accused began visiting the victim’s house frequently and when her husband was away for work and her children were at school, the accused came to her house in an inebriated condition, gagged her, and raped her.

Court’s Reasoning

The High Court remarked that “it is clear that when the Police comes to a conclusion that the complaint made by the complainant appears to be false, then it has to forward a copy of said finding to the complainant and is also required to forward the report to the Magistrate under Section 169 Cr.P.C./189 of BNSS. Section 157 of Cr.P.C. gives a complete check to the unfettered powers of police.”

“In case if the Police is allowed to close the preliminary enquiry at its own level, then it would give unfettered powers to the police and the opinion formed by the Police would always remain unchallenged. For example, if the Police is not interested in registering a case against a person, then instead of registering an FIR it would take up the matter in preliminary enquiry and then after forming it's own opinion would keep the enquiry report with itself and would not send it to the Magistrate for judicial scrutiny. That would lead to dictatorship of the Police,” the Bench stated.

The Court held that “if the contention of counsel for respondent No.2 is that applicant was playing an influential role in Police Station Ishagarh, then the same cannot be said to be false or baseless, for the reasons mentioned above. Therefore, even if the preliminary enquiry was conducted by two officers but as those reports never saw the light of the day, accordingly, this Court is of considered opinion that as those enquiry reports did not attain finality, it cannot be said that opinion formed by enquiry officer was correct.”

Consequently, the Court ordered, “Under these circumstances, the Competent Authority or Director General of Police is directed to immediately transfer applicant to another part of the State so that he may not influence the ongoing investigation. The Competent Authority may also consider to take action against applicant under Rules 9 and 14 of the M.P. Civil Services (Classification, Control & Appeal) Rules, 1966. The interim order dated 03.01.2019 is hereby vacated. Police is free to take applicant in custody.”

Accordingly, the High Court dismissed the Application.

Cause Title: Prakash Pawaiya v. The State Of Madhya Pradesh & Ors. (Neutral Citation: 2025:MPHC-GWL:8989)

Appearance:

Applicant: Advocates Deepak Shrivastava and Anupama Goyal

Respondents: Public Prosecutor Mohit Shivhare; Advocate Padam Singh

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