SC sets aside strictures against Electricity Magistrate

Srinagar: The Supreme Court has set aside strictures which J&K and Ladakh High court had passed against the then Special Mobile Magistrate (Electricity), Unit-III, Pattan, for having “exceeded his jurisdiction while directing an FIR to be registered afresh”.

Disposing of an appeal filed by the Magistrate Mahmmud Anwar Alnasir, a division bench of the Apex court comprising Justice L Nageswara Rao and B R Gavai set aside the directions the High Court had passed on October 11, 2018 regarding initiating of administrative action against Alnasir as Special Mobile Magistrate (Electricity), Unit-III, Pattan for having “travelled into an area which was neither within his domain nor in his power.”

   

The Magistrate had committed a case regarding death of a person named Azad Ahmed Lone in 2011. While father of the deceased contended that his son was murdered, police had closed the case “untraced” following medical report which said “Asyphyxia due to hanging by ligature, Mode: Suicidal.”

while committing the case Court to Sessions Court for trial under offences especially 302 RPC read-with Section 120-B RPC, the Magistrate in his order had observed that postmortem which is mandatory in homicidal cases was not conducted, nor any plausible explanation for not conducting it was given by IO, SHO or the Doctor.

“The suicide theory stands belied on the mathematical calculation where the height of the deceased exceeds the height of the place wherefrom he was claimed to be hanged by the police,” the Magistrate had said in the committal order.

However, the order was challenged by the alleged accused persons and the doctor concerned before the High court with the contention that police authorities had registered case (FIR No. 171/20110 in the matter on June 23, 2011 itself while father of the deceased filed an application on July 9, 2011 in the Court of CJM Sopore with the prayer that the police authorities be directed to register an FIR against the accused persons.

The High Court had however noticed that the magistrate was obliged to call a report from the police to verify and assess the position. Instead of doing so, the Magisterate directed the SHO Police Station Sopore to lodge an FIR and to submit the status report.

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