SC: NO SANCTION NEEDED UNDER SECTION 197 CRPC TO PROSECUTE POLICE FOR KILLING CIVILIANS WITH SERVICE WEAPONS WHILE IN PLAIN CLOTHES:

The Supreme Court recently declined to absolve several Punjab police officials implicated in the alleged fake encounter killing of a civilian, whom they had shot while dressed in plain clothes. The officials had argued that their prosecution was barred in the absence of sanction under Section 197 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). However, the Court firmly rejected this claim, holding that the conduct of the accused bore no reasonable nexus to any official duty. Specifically, the Court noted that the officials used their service weapons while not in uniform and had surrounded and fired upon a civilian vehicle, an act that was not connected in any manner to their responsibilities of maintaining public order or executing lawful arrests.

The bench, comprising Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta, observed that the petitioners were accused of collectively targeting a civilian while in plain clothes and opening fire at him without any lawful justification. This, in the Court’s view, could not be reasonably linked to the discharge of official functions. Merely because official firearms were used, or even if the accused had wrongly assumed some official objective, such factors could not convert a clearly unlawful act into one protected as part of official duty. The Court emphasized that conduct which is entirely outside the color of legal authority cannot be shielded by Section 197 CrPC.

The case stemmed from an incident in 2015 when the police claimed they were involved in a shootout with a gangster and fired in self-defense. Based on this version, the police registered a First Information Report (FIR) under Section 307 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and relevant provisions of the Arms Act, justifying their actions as retaliatory. However, in 2016, a friend of the deceased filed a complaint asserting that the incident was a staged encounter. The complaint accused nine police officials of murder and other related offences and also alleged that a Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) had tampered with evidence by removing the number plates from the deceased's car.

A Special Investigation Team (SIT) subsequently found the police’s version to be false. The SIT recommended charging eight police officers with culpable homicide not amounting to murder under Section 304 IPC and also proposed the cancellation of the original FIR. On the basis of this, a magistrate summoned all nine officials, and the Sessions Court framed charges accordingly. In 2019, the High Court upheld the charges against the nine officers but quashed the proceedings against the DCP, reasoning that the act in question removing the number plates—required prior sanction under Section 197 CrPC for prosecution.

This decision was challenged before the Supreme Court in two separate appeals: one by the accused police officials challenging the framing of charges, and another by the complainant seeking to overturn the DCP’s exoneration. While affirming the High Court’s decision to uphold the charges against the police officials, the Supreme Court overturned the part of the ruling that had exonerated the DCP under Section 201 IPC, which deals with causing the disappearance of evidence. The Court clarified that tampering with evidence, such as the removal of vehicle registration plates, cannot be considered an act undertaken in the discharge of official duties and hence does not attract the protection afforded by Section 197 CrPC.

Citing the precedent laid down in Gauri Shankar Prasad v. State of Bihar [(2000) 5 SCC 15], the Court stated that actions intended to obstruct the administration of justice fall completely outside the purview of official duties. It ruled that the High Court had erred in quashing the complaint against the DCP and accordingly restored the trial court proceedings to allow a fresh evaluation of the evidence. The Court emphasized that when the central allegation concerns the suppression of evidence, there is no apparent connection with official duties, making Section 197 CrPC inapplicable. The Court reiterated that the protection granted under the cloak of official duty does not extend to actions aimed at subverting justice, a principle affirmed in the Gauri Shankar Prasad judgment.

Consequently, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal filed by the accused police officers seeking to challenge the charges framed against them. Simultaneously, it allowed the complainant's appeal contesting the DCP’s exoneration, thereby reinstating the criminal proceedings under Section 201 IPC against the said official.