Realising how an accused frustrated the criminal justice system by indulging in fraudulent tactics, the Supreme Court on April 10 observed that its existing position on whether an accused can be detained in police custody beyond 15 days from the date of arrest needs to be reviewed The observation came in a case where due to fraudulently admitting himself in hospital, the accused evaded police custody.
CBI case in 2020
On November 27, 2020, an FIR was registered by the CBI against some officials of the Eastern Coalfield Limited, CISF and Railways for the commission of offences of criminal conspiracy, embezzlement and under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
On April 16, 2021, an accused,Vikas Mishra, was arrested and remanded to the police/CBI custody for a period of seven days. However, during that d period, he got admitted to hospital and enjoyed bail continuously after that.Thus, he could not be interrogated by the CBI despite police custody remand.
The accused has successfully avoided the operation of the order of police custody, the Bench said, while allowing the prayer of the police and permitting the custody remand of the respondent for a period of four days.
Investigation crucial
“No accused can be permitted to play with the investigation or the court’s process. No accused can be permitted to frustrate the judicial process by his conduct. It cannot be disputed that the right of custodial interrogation/ investigation is also a very important right in favour of the investigating agency to unearth the truth, which the accused has purposely and successfully tried to frustrate,” the court observed.
Now the Supreme Court will have to review a three-decade-old order of its own. In 1992, in the CBI vs. Anupam J Kulkarni case, the apex court had observed that there cannot be any police custody beyond 15 days from the date of arrest. That position will be reconsidered in view of the April 10 order.
(The writer is an advocate, practicing in the Supreme Court of India)
