SC issued notice to TN govt, recovery of the missing diaries directed

Written By – Shianjany Pradhan

On Tuesday, the supreme court issued a notice to Tamil Nadu concerning a plea related to the missing 41 case diaries of the investigation in the temple idol theft case.  

The bench which comprised Justices V. Ramasubramanian and Pankaj Mittal had been hearing the Special Leave Petition.  It was regarding the writ petition that was filed on 22^nd July, where it was decided by the Madras High Court, disposing of a writ filed by advocate Elephant G Rajendran in respect of the idol theft. The petitioner approached the High court where he sought the appointment of a retired police officer with a team for the investigation of the case where 41 diaries pertaining to the temple idol theft had been misplaced.

As per the courtroom exchange, the bench inquired about the 41 case diaries to which it was answered by the petitioner in person that around 16 of them have been recovered and the reconstruction of the same has been done.

The court noted that a failure on the part of the police is been found by the court. The primary investigation agency is required to conduct the investigation promptly. The court found the missing 41 case diaries together as a shocking incident and something which needs to be pondered upon. So, the idols were stolen, and thereafter even the case diaries. This tells that no action has been taken by the authorities to keep the diaries safe.  It was the responsibility of the state to ensure the custody of the diaries with the appropriate authority.

While disposing of the matter, the court gave the directions that: –

1) The respondents have to find out the names of the designated police officers who were entrusted with the custody of the diaries and initiate the required action against them.

2) The respondents are also supposed to complete the investigation without any further delay and submit the report to the court in a reasonable period.

3) The second and fourth respondents of the case have to give directions to all the police officers to take care of the police diaries so that another incident does not take place.

4) The court also said that the report should not be kept pending because the idol could not be traced or the accused could not be found. The matter should be promptly taken up by the police.

Case Title:  Elephant G Rajendran vs The Secretary and others