Suresh K.Khaitan (Prop.) 30 May 2011

Sub-Judice

A's wife committed suicide by hanging herself. His in-laws ,as usual, accused him and the other members of his family of murder who were arrested thereafter after a case was registered agianst them.

Post mortem was done. The doctor conducting Post Portem demanded bribe from A to give a clean report. Since A's conscience was clear. He did not oblige the doctor. The in-laws , on the other hand, managed the doctors and got a post report of murder.

A approached Truth Labs, Hyderabad with the materials to check the auhtenticity of the Post Mortem Report .He also sent the Video CD of the post mortem operation. Truth Lab was of the opinion that the Post Mortem Report was fabricated.

A filed one complaint with Medical Council of India who referred the case to Assam Council of Medical Registration. Assam Council of Medical Regsitration did not entertain the complaint on the plea that the matter was sub-judice since a case was filed and was pending against the complainant on the same subject matter.

In the mean time, while in police custody, A was demanded money by Police. When he refused to oblige, he was badly beaten up and tortured. The degree of torture was such that no descent man can describe the same.

He filed a complaint agianst the concerned Police Officer before the Assam State Police Accountability Commission. Commission too did not entertain the complaint agaisnt the police officer on the same plea of Sub-judice.

Shall this SUB-JUDICE defence be available to the erring/criminal doctor and the police officer? If so, it shall be very easy for all such doctors and police officers to go scot free. If no, what is the remedy available to Mr. A now?

Reply Follow

2 Replies

pradip shah (partner) 30 May 2011

If the person A, is still under arrest, the best remedy might be to provide the appropriate results of alleged fabricated post-mortem reports from Truth Labs to the court, and file fresh cases of alleged manipulation of evidence/reports by the in-laws in collaboration with the autorities.

People don't comment on matter under sub-judice to prevent coming under contempt of court.

With the Contempt of Courts Act 1971, it is possible to see what/ and what not comes under this act.

About Police Attrocities you might want to have a look at:

https://trivandrum.gov.in/~trivandrum/index.php/rdonoffice-magisterialnfunctions-rdooffice-331?task=view

In Kerala, there is the Kerala Police Act which can take cognizance of the alleged torture of the Police.
In addition you can also look file a case under the act of Prevention of Atrocities Act, and the Criminal Procedure Code Act.

hema (law officer) 30 May 2011

if section 304-B case is not committed and still it is before the magistrate court, move an application describing the police atrocities against you. same is the procedure if the case is committed and the matter is before the sessions court. if you are not satisfied with the action of magistrate/sessions court, you can move writ case in the high court against the police department seeking compensation as well as punishment to the erring police personnel. If you have state human rights commission, there also a complaint lies. amongst all the above proposals, the best one is to approach the high court under writ jurisdiction. applying third degree methods against you by the police personnel does not attract the concept of sub-judice.

1 Like