The case could have been saved had govt cared enough

Going by today’s judgment, the prosecution failed because the witnesses turned hostile (apparently under duress) and did not identify any of the accused. Alternatively, the police (wilfully) damaged the case by distorting statements and arraigning the innocent.

The Malimath Committee report, which seeks to assign a more proactive role to the court ‘‘to search for truth,’’ provides solutions to either possible scenario which led to the acquittals.

Consider its safeguards in the event of faulty investigation:

• The existing law gives discretion to the court to summon or recall anybody as a witness ‘‘if his evidence appears to it to be essential to the just decisions of the case.’’ In a bid to make the law more effective, the committee said a witness should instead be summoned or recalled ‘‘for discovering truth in the case.’’

• Pleading helpless, the courts, as in the Best Bakery case, have often complained they have no option but to acquit in the face of shoddy investigation. The Malimath committee sought to plug this loophole by suggesting that the court should be empowered to direct the investigating officer ‘‘to make further investigation’’ or the supervisory officer ‘‘to take appropriate action for proper or adequate investigation so as to assist the court in search for truth.’’

• The law confers ‘‘inherent powers’’ on the Supreme Court and high courts to ‘‘prevent the abuse of the process of any court or otherwise to secure the ends of justice.’’ The change suggested in this regard is that such inherent powers should be conferred even on the subordinate courts to safeguard the critical stage of trial.

• The police registered the FIR in the Best Bakery case after much delay. The committee said that the refusal by the police to entertain complaints regarding commission of any offence should be made punishable.

But if the Best Bakery case had fallen through because the witnesses had been intimidated into changing their testimony, the committee recommended a reform that seeks to make every witness more accountable for the statement he gives to the police during investigation.

In a departure from the existing provision, the committee said the witness should be made to sign the record made by the police of his statement. Besides, he should get a copy of that statement.