Telangana High Court: death case final reports must go to judicial magistrate

The Telangana High Court has ruled that police investigating unnatural or accidental deaths under the old Code of Criminal Procedure Section 174 must file their final report before a Judicial Magistrate of First Class, not an Executive Magistrate. Justice Suddala Chalapathi Rao also held that the person who first gave information about the death must be told what action the police took.

The order came on a petition by R. Jaya Laxmi, whose husband R. Laxman, a BSNL telephone mechanic, died in May 2014 after falling into an uncovered ditch dug for the Godavari Drinking Water Supply Project at Yapral. She alleged police closed the case without investigating the contractor's liability. The court refused to order a reinvestigation after more than a decade, but directed the police to follow the procedure under Section 173(2) CrPC, now Section 193(3) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, for all such investigations.

The court cited the Madras High Court decision in Manohari v. District Superintendent of Police and Supreme Court precedents. It directed its registry to send a copy of the order to the Director General of Police for circulation to all police stations.