False police complaints: SC asks state to respond
The Supreme Court on Friday sought the response of the Maharashtra government on a plea seeking directions for appropriate action against people filing false complaints with the police.
A bench of Justices R.M. Lodha and Madan B. Lokur also issued notice to the director general of police of the state and sought his response on the petition filed by a retired IPS officer.
The petitioner has sought issuance of guidelines to police officers to lodge complaints and take action against those individuals whose complaints against someone else have been found to be false.
“The present petition is primarily aimed at directing the police/public servants to exercise the statutory powers vested in it under the CrPC and IPC and file a complaint against a person who has
been found to have lodged a false complaint against another,” the petition said.
S.P.S. Yadav, former commissioner of police of Thane district in Maharashtra, in his plea, has said, “At present, there are no guidelines for initiating and regulating prosecution against a person who has filed a false and frivolous criminal case against another and it is left to the discretion of a police officer to initiate such prosecution.
“Thus, there is every possibility that the discretion is exercised in such a manner that it amounts to discrimination, as it leaves sufficient room for arbitrariness and favouritism on part of a police officer or public servant on whether to file prosecution or not against a person giving false complaint, which in turn offends the fundamental right of a citizen (accused in such a complaint) guaranteed under Article 14 of the Constitution,” observed the bench.
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