HC stays sessions court bail order that castigated police probe

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has stayed an order passed by a Sessions Court in bail proceedings, wherein it had pulled up an Investigating Officer of the Delhi Police for conducting perfunctory investigation in connection with a dowry death case.

According to legal news website Live Law, Justice Chandra Dhari Singh observed, "it is a settled position of law that the lower courts are not akin to constitutional courts. While deciding an application under Section 439 of the Code, the courts are bound to decide it within the four corners of the statue."

The Judge relied on the case of State of West Bengal v. Mir Mohammad Omar & Ors, (2000) 8 SCC 382, where the Supreme Court had directed the courts to ordinarily desist from castigating the investigation even while ordering acquittal. "Before an investigating officer is imputed with castigating remarks the courts should not overlook the fact that usually such an officer is not heard in respect of such remarks made against them. In our view the court need make such deprecatory remarks only when it is absolutely necessary in a particular case," the top court had said.