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The high court in its order noted that the IO had filed an affidavit but had not commented upon whether he had looked into the communication of the hospital that the original certificate was traced.
A division bench of the Bombay High Court comprising Justice Nitin W Sambre and Justice RN Laddha has recently issued a contempt notice to the Assistant Police Inspector of Hinjewadi Police Station, Pune for charge sheeting a National Defence Academy professor maliciously.
"Let the aforesaid notice be issued through the Commissioner of Police, Pune, calling upon him to physically remain present before this Court so as to enable this Court to frame charge against him for contemptuous act and also as to why he should not be proceeded against for filing of criminal proceedings for malicious prosecution of the petitioner ignoring his statutory obligation and duties under the provisions of Criminal Procedure Code. He should also be put to notice that as to why he should not be directed to pay a compensation of Rs.10,00,000/- to the petitioner in view of aforesaid serious default," the high court ordered.
The High Court was hearing a plea in which the petitioner had received a certificate from Sassoon Hospital, Pune, stating that they had a disability of 41%. However, the original certificate went missing and the petitioner was charged with forgery under Sections 420, 467, 468, and 471 of the Indian Penal Code.
Following an investigation, a chargesheet was filed in July 2017. However, on September 9, 2016, the hospital communicated with the Investigating Officer, informing them that the original record of the aforementioned certificate had been located.
The petitioner's counsel argued that despite receiving communication from the hospital, the officials proceeded to file the chargesheet, thereby initiating malicious prosecution against the petitioner.
In September 2019, the High Court issued a notice to the Investigating Officer, calling upon them to explain whether they had examined the record that was traced as communicated in the hospital's September 9, 2016 communication.
The officer submitted an affidavit, but it did not address whether they had reviewed the hospital's communication regarding the traced record.
The high court while issuing a contempt notice noted that the act of the IO was contemptuous.
"The aforesaid act on the part of the Investigating Officer is in contempt of the order dated 8th February, 2019. Not only the aforesaid contemptuous act which can be prima facie inferred, the said Officer prima facie appears to have maliciously filed charge-sheet against the petitioner," the high court recorded.
The matter will now be taken up by the court on 13th July at 2:30 PM.
Case title: Kamal Chandra Tiwari vs State of Maharashtra
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