Bombay HC directs police to take action against sub-inspector who sent FB ‘friend request’ to woman complainant

“We fail to understand how an officer investigating the case of the petitioner, a lady, can send such a friend request to her or in fact, to anybody whose case he is investigating,” a division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Neela K Gokhale observed in the order.

The bench was hearing a plea by the complainant woman who sought directions to the Mumbai police commissioner, DCP (Zone- XI) and Samata Nagar police station in Kandivali (East) to register an FIR based on her complaint filed in September 2024 in connection with a house theft.

“Considering the aforesaid and the manner in which the case is being handled, we deem it appropriate to direct the DCP of the concerned zone to look into the petitioner’s complaint and take appropriate steps. The DCP to also look into the conduct of the PSI sending a friend request to the petitioner and take appropriate steps/action,” the bench noted in its order.

The woman claimed she lived separately from her husband due to a marital dispute and their daughter initially lived on rented premises in Kandivali. After her daughter suffered a serious neurological infarction (disrupted blood flow to the brain) due to mental stress in June 2024 and was discharged from hospital the following month, she was under the complainant’s care at her residence in Ghatkopar.

The woman said her daughter’s house in Kandivali was broken into in August 2024 when she was away, and her personal belongings, cash worth Rs 15 lakh, and jewellery were stolen. She alleged that the police failed to register an FIR on her complaint and they did not even record her statement, prompting her to move the high court.

During the hearing on Monday, advocates Vijay H Kantharia and Shubada S Salvi, appearing for the petitioner, placed before the court a printout of a friend request sent to the woman on the night of January 5 by the PSI investigating her complaint. The lawyers claimed that the PSI made late-night phone calls to the petitioner on several occasions, asking her to visit the police station to record a statement.

When the PSI Atul Landge said the friend request was sent “by mistake”, the bench orally asked him why he would do so and clarified that it won’t be tolerated. How would a busy PSI get time for social media, it orally remarked, and said that if the officer did so in his first posting, it could not imagine what he would do in future. The court also questioned if police officers can use social media or be active on such platforms.

The high court posted further hearing for January 14, seeking the presence of the zonal DCP concerned before it through videoconferencing.