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Kabir Shankar Bose vs. State of West Bengal & Ors.

Not available · 2024 INSC 930Decided 4 Dec 2024
Not available
Justice B.V. Nagarathna · Justice Pankaj Mithal

Background

The petitioner, a lawyer and BJP spokesperson who had earlier been married to and divorced from the daughter of a sitting Trinamool Congress Member of Parliament, alleged that after a violent confrontation outside his house involving a mob and his CISF security detail, the local West Bengal police registered two FIRs against him under political pressure rather than investigating the actual attack on him. He approached the Supreme Court directly under Article 32, seeking to have the investigation transferred from the local police to the CBI or a Special Investigation Team, citing bitter personal and political enmity with his former father-in-law.

Decision Breakdown

The Court reiterated that transfer of investigation to an independent agency is an extraordinary power to be used sparingly, only where credibility of the investigation is genuinely in doubt or complete justice demands it, and not merely because one party makes allegations against another. However, on the undisputed facts here: bitter matrimonial and political enmity between the petitioner and a sitting ruling-party MP, the politically charged atmosphere in the state, and the fact that the incident also involved conduct of CISF personnel that the local police could not impartially examine. The Court found that a fair investigation by the local police was genuinely in doubt. It therefore issued a writ of mandamus directing that the investigation into both FIRs be transferred to the CBI, along with all records, so the matter could proceed to trial if warranted.

Lesson Learnt

Courts will step in to transfer a criminal investigation to an independent agency like the CBI only in exceptional situations, such as where local police credibility is compromised by political rivalry or conflict of interest, and not simply because a person accused (or complaining) wants a different investigator.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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