The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday held that the police cannot file a final report or closure report in man-missing cases as ‘undetected’. Even if such reports are filed before the court, they do not terminate the investigation, the court said.
Justice N. Anand Venkatesh observed that ‘undetectable’ was only a stage in the investigation and not a final report. Such a procedure is illegal.
The court has been witnessing a number of closure reports filed by the police as ‘undetected’.
This practice is in violation of Section 173(2) of CrPC.
Such mistakes could not be condoned every time and the police were duty-bound to comply with the procedures laid down, the court said.
The court directed the Director General of Police, Chennai, and the Inspector General of Police of various zones to immediately sensitise and educate the police in dealing with man-missing cases.
The police are directed not to file a closure report as ‘undetected’.
Such a report could at best only be construed as a stage in investigation and the police must continue with the investigation and the final report should be filed under Section 173(2) CrPC, the court said.
The court was hearing the case of a woman who sought a direction for reopening the case of her husband, a history-sheeter, who went missing in 2012. As he could not be traced, a complaint was filed under ‘man-missing’ category.
The Virudhunagar police, which investigated the case, filed a final report in 2014 before the judicial magistrate saying the case was closed as ‘undetected’ since they had failed to trace him.