Arjun govt erred in registering FIR?
Handling of the Bhopal gas tragedy case by the then Arjun Singh government initially might cause sufficient legal hurdles for the government and the CBI to prepare the curative petition against the 1996 Supreme Court judgement dropping the charge of “culpable homicide not amounting to murder” against the UCIL officials.
This has emerged form the apex court’s judgment itself as a bench headed by the then Chief Justice of India A.M. Ahamadi, while dealing with five important “legal questions” on framing of charges in the case, had said that the Bhopal police had registered the FIR only for “causing death due to negligence” under Section 304-A of the Indian Penal Code.
Filing of the FIR under Section 304-A is one of the five grounds cited by the apex court for not accepting the CBI’s plea for retaining the charge under Section 304-Part-II. “It is pertinent to note that when the complaint was originally filed ‘suo motu’ by the police authorities at Bhopal and the criminal case was registered at the police station Hanumanganj as case No: 1104/84, it was registered under Section 304-A of the IPC,” CJI Ahamadi and Justice S.B. Majmudar in the judgment had explained.
The second ground cited was that the material relied upon by the CBI had even fallen short to “prima facie indicate that the accused persons appeared to be guilty of an offence of culpable homicide under section 304 Part-I, or Part II”.
As the third important ingredient, the top court referred to the definition of “culpable homicide” under Section 299 of the IPC and stated that the CBI evidence had not met the requirement of the section.
According to the apex court, under Section 299, the element of “knowledge” by the accused about their act causing death or bodily injury to any person, is an important requirement to sustain the charge of “culpable homicide not amounting to murder.”
“Section 299 lays down that, causes death by doing an act with the intention of causing death, or with the intention of causing such bodily injury as is likely to cause death, or with the knowledge that he is likely by such act to cause death, commits the offence of culpable homicide,” the apex court explained.
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