HC asks WB govt to frame guidelines on police investigations

Observing that the police did not conduct proper investigations in some criminal cases, the Calcutta High Court today asked the Home department of the West Bengal government to frame guidelines on such procedures.

Justice Rajasekhar Mantha directed that the authorities should provide training to police officials in this regard.

The court also said a departmental inquiry should be initiated if there were allegations of lacunae in a police probe.

The order and observations came during the hearing of a petition filed by a man, who alleged that a proper probe into his daughter's death was not carried out by the police.

Falguni Bhattacharya, the petitioner, had claimed foul play in his daughter's death after she fell from a motorbike while returning home with her friend on B T Road in North 24 Parganas district on March 8, 2016.

Justice Joymalyo Bagchi had, in April last year, ordered the formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the allegations.

The police had filed a case against an unidentified taxi driver in connection with the death of the girl, the petitioner's lawyer Jayanta Narayan Chatterjee said.

He claimed that the police had initiated a case of death due to negligence, while it should have been a case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

The prosecution today filed a status report of the SIT investigation.

The court passed the directions after going through the report.