CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana high court has held that the jurisdiction of CBI’s Jammu branch to probe the cases related to disappearance of youths in Punjab from 1992 to 1994 cannot be held illegal.
Justice Arvind Singh Sangwan passed these orders while dismissing a bunch of petitions filed by several Punjab police officials, now retired, who were charge-sheeted by the CBI for alleged abduction and killing of innocent persons in Punjab during that period.
“Once a direction has been issued by the SC to the director, CBI, such power vested with him and therefore, the policy decision dated February 7, 1997, conferring jurisdiction of SIUXVI Branch, Jammu, in view of the apex court direction cannot be said to be illegal in any manner,” observed Justice Sangwan.
DISAPPEARANCES IN PUNJAB
Indicted in CBI probe, several cops would face trial
With this, several cops indicted in the CBI probe would face trial in the case before the special CBI court, Mohali in Punjab.
The cases against these cops were registered in 1997 after the directions of the SC to CBI for investigation. In 1999, the CBI had filed a charge sheet against the accused but the trial in these cases could not commence because the accused had approached the HC and obtained a stay on the trial court proceedings.
The petitioners in this case had sought directions to set aside the order dated October 21, 2016, passed by the special judge, CBI, Patiala (now shifted to Mohali), vide which the application filed by the petitioners for dropping the proceedings was dismissed.
Their main plea was that the CBI did not have territorial jurisdiction to register the case in Jammu despite the fact that all the incidents were related to the state of Punjab. It was argued that the CBI inherently lacks jurisdiction under the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, to operate in Jammu and Kashmir as the Jammu unit had no territorial jurisdiction beyond the state of Jammu and Kashmir as per the CBI manual.
However, Sumeet Goel, senior CBI standing counsel submitted that the case was registered on directions of the Supreme Court and thereafter the jurisdiction of SIUXVI Branch Jammu was extended to probe these cases. Goel claimed that the CBI was very much within power to investigate the matter.
Senior advocate R S Bains, who represented the complainant against cops, submitted that the petitioners are habitual of filing repeated petitions, some of which were already dismissed by this court, only to delay the trial.
After hearing all the parties, the HC held that the CBI probe by the Jammu unit cannot be said to be without jurisdiction as it was directed by the apex court.
The high court, however, made it clear that any shortcomings highlighted by the petitioners before the court can be clarified from the apex court or in an alternative, they can seek further investigation in this case.
