HC refuses to transfer student death case to CBI

Kolkata: Calcutta High Court on Tuesday refused to transfer to CBI a case involving the death of a student of Jakir Hossain Institute of Pharmacy at Jangipur in Murshidabad. The court, while denying a second autopsy, observed though there were procedural delays, it did not indicate any “malfeasance or cover-up”, and the probe conducted by police was “thorough and unbiased”.
While the state’s senior standing counsel argued that initial investigation, postmortem report and witness testimonies pointed to suicide, Rejaul Karim, deceased Tohid Karim’s father, alleged that his son’s death was due to ragging and institutional negligence.He also raised concerns about delays in registering an FIR, lapses in police investigation and potential influence of the college owner, an MLA, in obstructing justice.
The bench of Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj, however, said allegations of political influence were not substantiated by concrete evidence.
The state argued there was no evidence of ragging or harassment, and police followed procedure in securing the crime scene, conducting the inquest and registering the FIR after a delay due to the petitioner’s preoccupation with funeral arrangements. The police authorities were directed to continue their investigation and submit a report. “The court expresses sympathy for the petitioner’s loss but finds no legal grounds to intervene further in the ongoing investigation. In the absence of substantial evidence to support the claims of foul play or institutional negligence, and with the investigation complying with legal procedures, this court finds no merit in transferring the case or ordering a second postmortem,” Justice Bharadwaj stated.