Chapter XII of the
Criminal Procedure Code defines the powers of the Police to investigate
offences; they have suo-moto powers to investigate ‘cognizable’ offences.
‘The law of criminal procedure creates the necessary machinery for the
detection of crime, arrest of suspected criminals, collection of evidence,
determination of guilt or innocence of suspected person and imposition of
proper punishment on the guilty persons.'
A “cognizable
offence” means an offence for which a police officer may, in accordance
with the First Schedule of the Code or under any other law, arrest without
warrant. The IPC and other special acts in force, define various offences,
while the Indian Evidence Act defines evidence. But it is the Code that
outlines the procedure for collection of evidence that will lead to a
charge in the competent court against the offender, leading to his trial,
and conviction or acquittal. The Code also ‘defines’ investigation, which
includes all the proceedings under the Code for the collection of evidence
conducted by a police officer or by any other person (other than a
Magistrate) who is authorised by a Magistrate in this behalf.
When a complaint of a
cognizable offence is made before a SHO of a Police Station, it results in
registration of a case which initiates the process of statutory
investigation (section 154 of the Code). A copy of the First
Information Report, describing the offence, is forthwith sent to the
jurisdictional Magistrate by the SHO, to keep the Magistrate informed of
the commission of the offence so that he may be able to have oversight over
the investigation and issue appropriate instructions, if required. The SHO,
either himself or through a subordinate police officer authorised in this
connection, visits the scene of crime for inspection and collection of
relevant evidence (section 157 of the Code).
Summoning relevant
witnesses and recording their statements is laid down in sections 160-162
of the Code. Provisions have also been made for recording confessions by
Magistrates (section 164 of the Code). The Code has provisions for summons
to be issued by a police officer for production of a document (section 91),
and for conducting searches where necessary, after obtaining warrants
(section 93). However, in cases where, during investigation the SHO or the
officer authorised in this connection, believes that there is no time to
obtain a warrant from the concerned jurisdictional Magistrate for
conducting a search in order to recover a document or a thing required for
investigation, the Code provides for conducting search without a warrant
(section 165).
The Code further
provides for investigation by the SHO in other jurisdictions, including
searches without warrants (section 166 of the Code). After amending the
Code in 1990, provision has also been made for investigations abroad,
through judicial requests, and for investigators from foreign countries for
conducting investigations in India, again through judicial requests (sections
166-A and 166-B respectively ode). Section 166-A of the Code pertains to
‘Letter of request to competent authority for investigation in a country or
place outside India’.
For this purpose, the investigator makes an application before the
jurisdictional Court that evidence may be available in a country or place
outside India, based on which the Court issues a letter of request to the
Court in that country competent to deal with such requests, to examine
orally any person acquainted with the facts and circumstances of the case
under investigation, record his statement, and ask him to produce any
document or thing in his possession that may be relevant for the case.
These statements and documents, or their authenticated copies, are then
sent to the Court who had made the request for the evidence. The evidence
collected in this manner is then forwarded to India. The manner of sending
the request to the competent Court abroad and the manner of receiving the
response has been laid down by the Central Government, the Home Ministry
playing a nodal role.
Similarly, on
receiving a request from a country or place outside India to a Court, or an
authority, for investigation in India, for examining a witness or producing
a document or issues relating to an offence under investigation in that
country or place, the Central Government, after examination, may either
send the request to the jurisdictional Magistrate, or to a police officer,
for recording the statement of the witness or collecting the document or
thing. The evidence collected is then transmitted to the Court who had
issued the request, by the Central Government in the prescribed manner.
After completion of
investigation, a police report is filed by the investigating officer in the
jurisdictional Court, giving details of the offence alleged to have been
committed, names of the accused, names of the witnesses and details of
documents and material objects relied upon to establish the offence
(section 173). This briefly is the procedure that is sanctioned by the Code
of Criminal Procedure for investigation of cases in India.
In this background,
can there be a joint investigation, where investigators of two countries
jointly investigate a case, when the accused based in one country plan to
execute an offence in another country and carry it out in the second
country?
Investigation, as
laid down in the Code, briefly described above, does not provide for a
joint investigation. However, whenever investigations are conducted
abroad in connection with a case under investigation in India, or in India
in connection with the investigation of a case in a foreign country, it is
possible for police agencies of India and the country concerned, subject to
approval of the two Governments, to associate with each other and assist
each other in identifying evidence available in their respective countries,
which will facilitate its collection in accordance with the provisions of
sections 166-A and 166-B of the Code. There is enough scope for purposeful,
professional co-operation between the investigation agencies in this
manner. This is the only way forward.
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