Supreme Court: In the case where the mother of a 22 year old girl who died under mysterious circumstances on 1.8.2015 filed a write petition seeking transfer of the investigation from the Crime Branch, Delhi to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for further investigation, the 3-Judge Bench of Dipak Misra, A.M. Khanwilkar and M.M. Shantanagoudar, JJ directed the CBI to investigate into the crime independently, without being influenced by any kind of prior investigation or prior status report, and file the status report before this Court within three months hence.
The petitioner had contended that the photographs of the deceased reveal that there has been assault with immense brutality which could not have been caused by an accident. Also, the medical report mentions that the injuries suffered by the victim do not rule out a homicidal assault and the report also reflects that the injuries that have been sustained by the victim may be due to striking of edged heavy blunt weapon during inter-personal violence. It was alleged that there has been no proper investigation in respect of the crime in question and effort is being made for some unfathomable reason to treat it as an accident. The Crime Branch, Delhi contended that it has taken extreme pains to solve the issue.
Considering the contention of the petitioner and the Crime Branch, Delhi, the Court said that though it cannot be said that there has been any kind of laxity in the investigation carried out by the Delhi Police, but there can be no doubt that the CBI is more equipped and the citizens of this country have faith in its investigating abilities. The Court will take up the matter on 10.07.2017. [Neelam Mishra v. Union of India, 2017 SCC OnLine SC 276, order dated 24.03.2017]
