Chennai: Coming down heavily on the police for not acting swiftly and leaving uncovered for two hours the body of the slain Swathi, the techie hacked to death by a youth at Nungambakkam railway station on June 24, the Madras high court set a deadline of two days and cautioned it would initiate suo motu action if there was slackness in handling the case. Referring to media reports relating to the death of Swathi, a division bench comprising Justices S.Nagamuthu and V.Bharathidasan earlier in the day asked Public Prosecutor R.Shanmughavelayutham to verify and report to the court on the news report that there was lack of coordination between the Railway police and the local police in handling Swathi’s case. If the report was true, the court would initiate suo motu proceedings, since the court also has the social responsibility and should monitor these types of cases, the bench added.
Accordingly, the PP in the afternoon informed the bench that the DGP had passed an order transferring the investigation to Nungambakkam police. A team has been constituted and it was headed by ACP, K.P.S.Devaraj and the DCP, Triplicane was monitoring the investigation. Cyber crime and CB-CID police were also assisting the investigation, he added.
Immediately, Justice Nagamuthu asked as to when the case was transferred. “The occurrence took place on Friday. Today is Monday, no breakthrough till now in the case. The issue appeared and has been debated very widely in the media. I have gone through various newspapers. They have reported that there is no coordination and there is in-fight”, he said. The PP said DGP and Commissioner of Police visited the spot and there was coordination. Justice Nagamuthu asked why there was so much delay in transferring the investigation. As PP replied it was done on Monday, the bench sought to know whether if it was done only after the court's caution of suo motu action. A young girl was murdered in gruesome manner, the bench added. The PP said 25 police personnel were working to crack the case.
The bench said, “We only expressed our concern. Justice must be ensured to the family. From media reports, it appears that there was rift between railway police and city police”. Public prosecutor said the report was not correct and the DGP said there was good co-operation. The bench said, “We are satisfied. We will give two days time. If we find there is slackness after two days, we will initiate suo motu proceedings after getting Chief Justice's concurrence”. Justice Nagamuthu also said for nearly two hours, Swathi's body was lying without even being covered. “Where were your police officers? Two hours on a platform. Even a dead person has got right to dignity under the Constitution. Even after death, the girl's dignity cannot be denied. Why it was lying like an exhibition for more than two hours. It speaks volumes. Why it should take so much time for police to do the formalities. Is railway police under your control?”
The PP replied, 'Yes', upon which the judge said, “You should have immediately transferred the investigation, like justice must not only be done, but also should be seen to be done. Railway police may have no wherewithal and no manpower. Why there was no CCTV installed? It was not such a difficult or costly thing to do”. The PP said he was informed that CCTV would be installed in all railway stations. He also admitted this could have been done “much earlier”. The judge said, rather sadly, “To induce one's thinking, we made one person to lay down her life”.
