Kasaragod: A judicial magistrate court in Kasaragod has launched an inquiry against three police officers accused of culpable homicide for their involvement in the 'hot pursuit' of a car that led to the death of schoolboy Muhammed Farhaz.
Judicial First Class Magistrate - II Abdulbasith T V initiated committal proceedings against Sub-Inspector Rejith S R, and Civil Police Officers Deepu T and Renjith P on a private complaint filed by the boy's single mother Safiya. Committal proceedings are court hearings held in the court of magistrates to decide if there is sufficient evidence against accused charged with a serious criminal offence to order them to face trial in a higher court. "The court said that there was no point in the police investigating the case because it was against their officers. Now the judicial magistrate will do the work of the police," said Adv P E Sejal, who represented Safiya in the court.
On August 25, the Government Higher Secondary School at Puthige's Angadimogar organised an Onam celebration and one student arrived in a car. Around 12.30 pm, several students got into the sedan and left the school for Friday's Juma prayers. A few metres from the school, the car stopped before a shop at Khateeb Nagar for some students to get down. That was when the three accused officers, attached to the Kumbla Police Station, pulled over near the car.
In her statement, Muhammed Farhaz's mother Safiya said the police officers approached the students and asked for the driver's licence. Farhaz was in the front passenger's seat. The driver showed the officer his licence and other documents. "Thereafter for reasons best known to the policemen, they shouted against the students and used filthy language against them and also kicked the front door of the car," it said. This frightened the students and they sped off from the place. Sub-Inspector Rejith and the two civil police officers got into the jeep and pursued them.
The hot pursuit happened on the busy and treacherous Khatib Nagar-Katathadka road, a 3.5km climb with six sharp curves and several government offices, shops, mosques, madrasas, a post office, and a school. Before the car reached Arikady, the vehicle skidded off the road and tumbled several times.
Farhaz was seriously injured and died in a hospital in Mangalore on Onam day, on August 29. The three boys behind and the driver escaped with minor injuries.
Initially, the police said they did not chase the car. They made a U-turn after the family released CCTV footage from several private cameras along the road. Police also wrongly alleged Fasal Rahman did not have a driving licence and the owner of the car had a criminal history.
There were massive protests in Kumbla. To counter it, police filed a false case against Farhaz and others, said Adv Sejal. On August 31, two days after the boy died, the then District Police Chief Vaibhav Saxena transferred SI Rejith S R, and civil police officers Deepu T and Ranjith P V to the control room in Kanhangad "on administrative grounds". The transfer order did not mention the car chase.
The "hot chase" was a violation of the 2012 circular issued by the then State Police Chief Jacob Punnoose. In November 2019, the High Court of Kerala referred to the circular and called "hot chase" by police and officers of the Motor Vehicle Department as an "antiquated method" causing several deaths, said Adv Sejal.
Despite the court order and department circular, the police did not register an FIR against the officers for three months. Safiya had filed her complaint at Kumbla Police Station, before the Kasaragod DySP, the District Police Chief, and the State Police Chief. She had also written to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
"The Crime Branch took the statements of the students who survived the crash and the accused police officers, and gave a clean chit to officers without registering an FIR," said Adv Sejal.
To be sure, SI Rejith and Civil Police Officers Deepu and Renjith gave statements to Crime Branch DySP P K Manoj Kumar, who headed the inquiry, that they were not aware that they were chasing school students in the car.
Adv Sejal said they produced eyewitnesses and footage from CCTV cameras to prove that police officers were fully aware they were chasing students.
Adv Sejal said Safiya approached the judicial magistrate court with the private complaint under Sections 190 and 200 of CrPC on December 4. The two sections empower the magistrate courts to take cognisance of a complaint and examine the complainants. "The court took up the complaint in the evening of December 4, took the complainant's statement on December 5 and reviewed the footage of the car chase, and was convinced that there is a prima facie case against the officers," said Adv Sejal. The court will next record the statements of the witnesses on January 6.
Adv Sejal said he was pressing for Section 304 of the Indian Penal Code because the hot chase was not part of the police duty and they knew it could lead to accidents and deaths of school students.
If convicted under the section, the officers will face 10 or more years in prison.
