From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: Former Union Minister and senior BJP leader Shah Nawaz Hussain from Bihar on Thursday challenged the Delhi High Court, directing registration of an FIR against him in a 2018 alleged rape case against him. His petition is likely to be heard next week.
On Wednesday, the High Court had directed Delhi Police to register an First Information Report ((FIR) against him and complete the investigation in the case within three months. It came down heavily on Police for not entertaining the complaint of a woman, ubserving that there is no explanation as to why the FIR was not lodged in the matter.
“The FIR only puts the machinery into operation. It is a foundation for investigation of the offence complained of. It is only after investigations that the police can come to the conclusion whether or not an offence had been committed and if so by whom. In the present case, there seems to be a complete reluctance on the part of the police to even register an FIR. In the absence of the FIR, at best, the police could have, as correctly observed by the Special Judge, conducted only what is a preliminary inquiry,” Justice Asha Menon.
She rejected Hussain’s plea for setting aside lower court order directing the registration of FIR.
“Complaint sent to the Commissioner of Police clearly discloses the commission of the cognizable offence of rape after administration of a stupefying substance and when this complaint was forwarded to the concerned SHO, the SHO was obligated under law to register the FIR. But admittedly, in the present case, till the filing of the complaint before the Magistrate on 21st June 2018, the SHO, PS Mehrauli had done nothing. In fact, the Status Report filed before this Court refers to the said complaint having been received at PS Mehrauli on 20th June, 2018 from the Commissioner’s office. The police have a lot to explain for not having registered the FIR on the receipt of the forwarded complaint,” Justice Menon said.
A Delhi-based woman had in 2018 moved the a magistrate’s court seeking registration of an FIR against Hussain on her allegation of rape, which ordered the FIR on July 7, 2018 against Hussain, saying a cognizable offence was made out in the complaint of the woman.
This was challenged by the BJP leader before a sessions court which dismissed his plea holding that the Criminal Amendment Act of 2013 had made it mandatory for the police to record the statement of the victim under Section 164 of Cr.P.C. in cases punishable under Section 376 (rape) of IPC. Moreover, with regard to the registration of the FIR, the sessions court concluded that the inquiry which had been made was only a preliminary inquiry and the Metropolitan Magistrate had rightly not treated the Action Taken Report (ATR) as a cancellation report, as registration of an FIR is only for a proper investigation of the matter and after detailed investigation, if the police still came to the conclusion that no offence was made out, it was not precluded from filing a cancellation report.
On July 13, 2018, the high court had passed an interim order staying the trial court order which directed the Delhi Police to register the FIR.
