New Delhi, October 02: Accused persons cannot be let off by police under pressure from influential persons like MLAs, the Supreme Court has held, slamming the Orissa DGP for releasing 12 persons in a murder case at the instance of a local politician.
In this case the police had initially named 19 persons as accused in the murder of Bhairathi Das in Orissa’s Jajpur district on March 28, 2007 allegedly by Kedar Narayan Parida and 18 others.
However, on the intervention of the local MLA Parameswar Sethi, the State Director General of Police and the Inspector General of Police Central Zone, dropped 12 of the accused from the case.
The apex court asserted that courts can intervene to restore justice when the action of the authorities is malafide in nature.
“Such a direction given after the intervention of Parameswar Sethi, who has gone to the extent of providing an alibi for two of the accused, Jyoti Parida and Shakti Parida, claiming that they were present in his house when the incident had occurred not only exudes an unpleasant flavour, but raises doubts about the bonafides of the police authorities at the highest level,” the apex court observed.
–Agencies