Badlapur case: HC asks Maharashtra govt whether FIR will be filed against police for custodial death

The division bench of Justice Mohite Dere and Neela Gokhale was hearing a plea by parents of the deceased accused seeking an SIT inquiry into their son’s custodial death. After the parents expressed difficulty in pursuing the case, the court appointed senior lawyer Manjula Rao as an amicus curiae.

A 23-year-old janitor arrested in August 2024 for the alleged sexual assault of two minor girls at a school in Badlapur in Thane district was shot dead while he was being transported in a police vehicle on September 23. A magistrate inquiry report dated January 17, submitted to the high court, has said that the “false encounter” allegations made by parents of the deceased “found substance”. It also said that use of force was “not justified and contention raised by police personnel of the right of private defence comes under the shadow of suspicion”.

Desai submitted to the high court that the state CID in its probe was following the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court on transparency and accountability in probes of police encounters.

“The state believes that it is acting in accordance with law in investigating the case. It is carrying out an independent probe… we will come to a conclusion on the outcome-whether to file a chargesheet or a closure report… we are doing our best and at this point there is nothing to suggest that investigators are acting in a malafide manner so as to require court’s intervention,” Desai submitted.

He also said that a commission appointed by the state headed by the retired Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court is also conducting proceedings as per its terms of reference.  He also cited judgments on the scope of a magisterial inquiry report stating that it cannot be the basis of an FIR, when the CID is already looking into all aspects of the probe.  The court will continue to hear the case on Monday.

Meanwhile, the high court was also informed that the state has filed an appeal against an order of the Thane sessions court, which directed that certain paragraphs of the magistrate report be kept in abeyance, following a plea filed by one of the five policemen.