Latest news with #Section197
Hindustan Times
6 days ago
- Hindustan Times
2015 fake encounter: Cops in plain clothes firing upon car driver cannot be considered as official duty: SC
The conduct of police personnel surrounding a civilian vehicle in plain clothes and jointly firing upon its occupant cannot be considered under duties of public order or effecting lawful arrest, the Supreme Court has said, dismissing a plea of nine Punjab cops to quash murder charges against them in an alleged fake encounter case. A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta also restored the destruction of evidence charge levelled on deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Parampal Singh for directing the removal of the number plate of the car after the firing incident in 2015 in which a driver was killed. It has been held that the cloak of official duty cannot be extended to acts intended to thwart justice, the court observed noting that prior sanction was not required to prosecute the DCP and other police personnel for their alleged actions. The bench in its April 29 order uploaded recently dismissed the appeals of nine police personnel challenging the Punjab and Haryana High Court's order of May 20, 2019, where it refused to quash the case against them. The apex court said having gone through the material placed on record, the court is of the view that no case is made out for interference with the impugned order of the high court. The bench rejected the submission of eight police personnel that cognisance of complaint against them cannot be taken as it was barred under Section 197 of CrPC under which prior permission was needed to prosecute public servants. 'Equally untenable is the submission that cognisance was barred for want of sanction under Section 197 CrPC. The petitioners stand accused of surrounding a civilian vehicle in plain clothes and jointly firing upon its occupant. 'Such conduct, by its very nature, bears no reasonable nexus to the duties of maintaining public order or effecting lawful arrest,' it said. The bench further said, 'The availability of official firearms, or even an erroneous official objective cannot transmute acts wholly outside the colour of authority into those done while acting or purporting to act in discharge of official duty.' Dealing with the case involving DCP Parampal Singh, the bench said an act that is per se directed to erasing potential evidence, if ultimately proved, cannot be regarded as reasonably connected with any bona-fide police duty. 'The test consistently applied by this court is whether the impugned act bears a direct and inseparable nexus to official functions. 'We believe that where the very accusation is suppression of evidence, the nexus is absent on the face of the record. In such a situation the bar of section 197 CrPC is not attracted, and sanction is not a condition precedent to cognisance,' the bench said. It said this court in a verdict of 2000 while dealing with Section 197 of CrPC held that 'the cloak of official duty cannot be extended to acts intended to thwart justice'. The top court said the criminal complaint alleges, in clear and specific terms, that the nine policemen surrounded the Hyundai i-20 car, alighted with firearms, and fired in concert, fatally injuring the occupant. It added that the narrative was supported, at least prima facie, by two eye-witness depositions recorded under Section 200 CrPC during the preliminary inquiry. 'In addition, the Special Investigation Team constituted at the behest of senior police administrators, found the self-defence version subsequently projected in FIR…to be false and recommended prosecution of eight of the petitioners for culpable homicide. 'A CCTV clip recovered by the SIT depicts the three police vehicles converging on the i-20 exactly as alleged. Taken together, these materials furnish a coherent evidentiary thread sufficient, at the threshold, to justify summoning and the framing of charges,' the top court said. Justice Nath, who penned the verdict on behalf of the bench said the order of the magistrate summoning the policemen and the subsequent order of the Sessions Court framing charges proceed on an appreciation that there exists prima facie evidence of concerted firearm assault. 'No error of law or perversity of approach is shown,' the bench said and dismissed the appeal filed by the policemen. The top court, however, allowed the appeal of complainant Princepal Singh seeking reversal of the high court's order of May 20, 2019, by which it had quashed a criminal complaint and the summoning order against DCP Parampal Singh in the destruction of evidence case against him. The bench said, 'In our considered opinion, at the summoning stage, those two depositions, read with the detailed narrative in the complaint, furnish a legally sufficient basis to proceed. Their credibility is a matter for trial, not for preliminary scrutiny.' As per the complaint, at 6.30 pm, on June 16, 2015, a police party, travelling in a Bolero jeep, an Innova and a Verna, intercepted a white Hyundai i-20 on the Verka-Batala Road in Amritsar of Punjab. It said nine policemen alighted in plain clothes and, after a brief exhortation, opened fire from pistols and assault rifles at close range, killing the car driver, Mukhjit Singh @ Mukha. The complainant (then riding a motorcycle nearby) and another witness claim to have seen the shooting and to have raised an alarm that drew local residents to the spot. They claimed shortly after the firing incident, DCP Parampal Singh arrived with additional force, cordoned off the scene and directed the removal of the car's registration plates.
The Citizen
06-06-2025
- Business
- The Citizen
‘It cannot carry on as things have been' – Gayton McKenzie as he cuts funding for Downtown Music Hub
Statement details how Downtown Music Hub received just over R93M since the 2008/2009 financial year to now. After years of alleged mismanagement, during which staff went months without receiving their salaries, Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture Gayton McKenzie has cut funding for the Downtown Music Hub to facilitate a full investigation. 'It is simply unsustainable for the department to keep carrying this project due to budget constraints. We will focus on what the future of this important, nostalgic music heritage site will be, but it is clear that it cannot carry on as things have been,' McKenzie said. Downtown is a recording facility in Johannesburg boasting over 40 years of recording history. The minister said he was cutting funding to allow for a full investigation to be finalised on funds that have been disbursed since 2008 and to decide what needs to be done with the asset. ALSO READ: Event organiser demands over R80k refund after Pearl Thusi no-show The Downtown Music Hub project The Downtown Music Hub project was initiated in 2008 by then-minister of arts and culture, Pallo Jordan, to lower barriers to recording facilities, among other objectives, following the purchase of Downtown Studios in Johannesburg. 'Based on an agreement between the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture (DSAC) and the National Arts Council (NAC), the building and its assets were to be donated to a Special Purpose Entity (SPE) following its establishment,' reads the DSAC statement. The SPE was subsequently established in 2010 as a non-profit company known as Downtown Music Hub. The Downtown Studios business was purchased as a going concern, which required that the employees be transferred from the seller to the buyer by Section 197 of the Labour Relations Act. The employees were not transferred to the NAC, but were later absorbed by the SPE. The NAC-led process of transferring and/or donating the assets to the SPE was never implemented due to a lack of common ground between the DSAC, the NAC, and the National Treasury. 'It was said that there would be no substantive and justifiable reasons for the department to donate the assets to an institution that was not associated with government in terms of any applicable legislation. 'This divergence created delays in the finalisation of the transfer. A counter proposal emerged that the assets be transferred to the department of public works instead, which also did not occur,' the statement said. The NAC was ultimately compelled to incorporate the assets into its books, which created accounting problems for the state-owned entity, particularly regarding the method of property acquisition. This resulted in adverse audit findings, which were finally resolved when the then minister of arts and culture, with the minister of finance, condoned the acquisition of the building. In terms of Section 6(3) of the NAC Act, however, the NAC is prohibited from acquiring and operating an income-generating business, in this case, the recording studios. The NAC was therefore forced to allow the SPE to run the business independently. ALSO READ: Holding cell drama in Mozambique: Scotts Maphuma in 'hot water' over no-show Operating at a loss According to the DSAC, the studio business has been operating at a loss, placing a liability on the department to cover its running and building maintenance costs. 'The SPE's management made it clear that it was unable to approach private investors due to the matters connected to the ownership of the building and the studios. Health and safety hazards in the building have also had an adverse impact on opportunities for making additional income.' The DSAC's statement details how Downtown has received just over R93 million since the 2008/2009 financial year to now. In 2021, the department's director general appointed an internal task team to investigate and guide on the future of Downtown. 'Following its work, it was recommended that the project be repositioned and be incorporated into one of the declared cultural institutions of the department, but no final decision was taken.' NOW READ: 'I'm not gonna lie, this is rocking me': Prince Kaybee opens up about health battle
