Separate Investigation From Law-and-Order Duties: Rajasthan High Court Directs Policy After 11-Year Delay in FIR Probe

FIR No. 832/2014 was registered at Police Station Pratap Nagar, Jaipur, under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471, 474 and 120-B IPC against the petitioner and others (paras 1, 5). The complainant housing society alleged that documents and pattas of its land had been fabricated (para 8). It sought an expeditious investigation: no charge-sheet had been filed in over eleven years despite the SHO's report of 18.07.2024 finding the case proved and repeated orders of a Co-ordinate Bench (paras 2, 5-7). The accused sought quashing, arguing that the dispute was civil, a civil suit was pending, about 20 officers had investigated, and an earlier 2009 FIR on similar allegations had been quashed on compromise (paras 3, 11-12).

The FIR disclosed a cognizable offence, so the correctness of the allegations could not be examined under Section 482 CrPC; that task belongs to the investigating agency (para 16). The successive-FIR plea failed because the victims of the two FIRs were different; whether the allegations overlap can be examined by the investigating officer (paras 14, 17). Both sides were given liberty to make representations to him (paras 18-19). Before parting, the Court called it shocking that the investigation of a 2014 FIR remained pending despite repeated directions (paras 21-22). The officer's report of 13.05.2025 blamed law-and-order duty at the Assembly session, festivals, IPL matches and the visit of the US Vice-President, which the Court found unsatisfactory (para 22). Officers burdened with both duties find it very difficult to discharge them together (para 23). Citing the Law Commission's 154th Report, Prakash Singh v. Union of India and the Home Ministry's letter of 27.04.2022, the Court noted that Rajasthan had framed no legislation or policy even after twenty years (paras 24, 27-29). Investigating police must be separated from law-and-order police, starting with towns of ten lakh or more (para 26).