Today 5th April, Supreme Court directed Tamil Nadu DGP to investigate Police Interference with Witnesses. The apex court’s decision came amidst criticism of police influencing witnesses in a recent murder case. The investigation aims to uncover any tampering that may have compromised witness testimony. This move highlights the court’s commitment to upholding fair trial procedures.
New Delhi: Today 5th April, the Supreme Court criticized Tamil Nadu police officials for coaching witnesses in a murder case and directed the Tamil Nadu Director General of Police (DGP) to investigate the matter.
The Court emphasized,
“The clear misuse of power by the police cannot be tolerated”
The Supreme Court stated,
“The Police’s interference with the judicial process is deeply troubling. It represents a significant abuse of power by law enforcement. Police tutoring of prosecution witnesses cannot be condoned. This misconduct is exacerbated by the withholding of other available eyewitnesses,”
The bench comprising Justices Abhay S Oka and Pankaj Mithal also noted with surprise that both the trial court and the Madras High Court failed to address this issue during their proceedings on the case.
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The Court remarked,
“The Courts’ oversight of this crucial aspect is unexpected,”
Consequently, the Court instructed the Tamil Nadu DGP to commence an investigation into the concerned police officials.
The Court mandated,
“The necessary steps will be taken against the responsible officials as per legal procedures,”
The remarks issued when overturning the judgments of both the High Court and a trial court, which convicted and sentenced two individuals in a 2007 murder case.
Upon reviewing the trial court documents, the Supreme Court observed that a day prior to the testimony of five prosecution witnesses, they were summoned to the police station and instructed on how to provide testimony in a specific manner.
The Court declared,
“The impact of instructing witnesses within a Police Station is evident. This is a clear attempt by the police to influence the key prosecution witnesses. All of these witnesses had personal stakes in the case. Therefore, their testimonies must be disregarded due to the likelihood that they were coached by the police the day before,”
Therefore, the highest court concluded that the lower courts made a mistake by convicting the appellants based on testimonies from biased individuals and overturned the conviction.
The accused represented by Advocates G Sivabala Murugan, Mailysamy, Selvaraj Mahendran, C Adhikesavan, PV Hari Krishnan, P Soma Sundaram, R Nedumaran, B Ragunath, NC Kavitha, and Vijay Kumar.
Senior Advocate Dr. Joseph Aristotle S and advocates Shubhi Bhardwaj and Vaidehi Rastogi appeared on behalf of the State of Tamil Nadu.
Read Judgement: [Manikandan vs State Rep by Inspector of Police]