Supreme Court Stays MP HC Direction Mandating IPS-Level Supervision Of All Serious Crime Probes
The Supreme Court docket not too long ago stayed a path issued by the Madhya Pradesh Excessive Court docket mandating the formation of a Critical Crimes Investigation Supervising Staff in every district, to be headed by a senior IPS officer, for overseeing each investigation in severe crimes.
A bench of Justice KV Viswanathan and Justice Nongmeikapam Kotiswar Singh directed the state to submit an SOP which balances the Excessive Court docket’s goal of stopping careless and sloppy investigation with the constraints on out there senior-level officers.
“The State of Madhya Pradesh is directed to furnish Commonplace Operative Process inside three weeks with out prejudice to their rights and contentions which they need to place in place to realize the item which the Excessive Court docket sought to realize, whereas on the identical time making certain that the out there manpower among the many senior degree officers are adequately apportioned and utilized”, the Court docket ordered.
The Court docket issued discover in a plea by State of Madhya Pradesh difficult the Excessive Court docket’s path in a bail case.
To be able to make sure that investigations are usually not left to the whims of the investigating officer, the Excessive Court docket had directed the Director Basic of Police, to make sure that every investigation in severe crimes is supervised by a two-member group consisting of an skilled IPS officer and different police officer not under the rank of Sub-Inspector of Police.
The investigating officer needed to report back to the group and maintain it apprised of the progress of the investigation to obtain inputs and plug loopholes in time. The group, together with the investigating officer, was to be held chargeable for any lapses.
Extra Advocate Basic for Madhya Pradesh Nachiketa Joshi submitted earlier than the Supreme Court docket that the State was not aggrieved by the grant of bail to the accused within the case by the aforementioned path of the Single Decide which was later affirmed by the Division Bench of the Excessive Court docket.
The State submitted that this path was extraordinarily unworkable. In line with knowledge from the Nationwide Crime Report Bureau for the yr 2022, there have been 4,88,966 felony instances registered in Madhya Pradesh, of which 38,116 have been categorized as heinous or severe.
The AAG identified that solely 63 IPS officers on the Superintendent of Police degree can be found within the districts, and if they’re required to personally supervise every severe crime investigation, it will turn into extraordinarily onerous and critically intervene with their different official duties.
He additional submitted that the State’s counsel within the Excessive Court docket had urged that supervision might be accomplished on the degree of a Deputy Superintendent of Police or a Sub-Divisional Officer of Police. He argued that such an association would nonetheless guarantee correct supervision and keep away from lapses in investigation, as meant by the Excessive Court docket, whereas additionally being virtually implementable. The Supreme Court docket noticed that this submission deserves consideration.
The Court docket directed the State of Madhya Pradesh to furnish a Commonplace Working Process (SOP) inside three weeks. The impugned path issued by the Excessive Court docket has been stayed until July 14, 2025. The matter will likely be listed for additional consideration on that date.
Case no. – Particular Depart Petition (Felony) Diary No. 18819/2025
Case Title – State of Madhya Pradesh v. Sunit @ Sumit Singh
