The Kalaburagi Bench of the High Court of Karnataka, in its order dated January 7, asked the police sub-inspector (PSI) of Basavanabagewadi to present himself before the court on January 17 along with relevant documents to explain why he did not file an FIR in the murder of Rajakumar Satihal, a resident of Chimmalagi village in Basavanabagewadi taluk of Vijayapura district, which fell under his station limits.
Jayamma, the wife of Rajakumar Satihal, had lodged a complaint on January 25, 2018 with the Basavanabagewadi police stating that her husband was kidnapped and murdered by five persons and requested the police to take action. However, the police had not registered an FIR. She then approached the Kalaburagi Bench seeking the court’s direction to the police for filing an FIR. The court, in its order dated July 31, 2018, directed the Additional Government Advocate to take notice to file the FIR.
However, the Additional Government Advocate, on Monday, filed a statement of objections which depicted that the police registered an Unnatural Death Report (UDR) under Section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). Justice B. Veerappa, felt that there were serious allegations made in the complaint and the complainant had made out cognizable offences against the five persons. It also observed that the jurisdictional police had unfortunately proceeded to register a UDR case instead of registering FIR.
It also took objection to the way the objections were filed “without looking into the averments made in the complaint.” It also directed the officer to file his personal affidavit to justify the action taken by him in registering the UDR instead of a regular FIR.
