The court then directed the Home Secretary and DGP to file an explanation by January 25.
The Madras High Court has sought an explanation from the Tamil Nadu Home Secretary and the Director General of Police on the closure of 2,14,901 FIRs by magistrate courts across the state between 2008 and 2014 for non-filing of charge sheets by police within the statutory time limit.
The closure of FIRs in such large numbers was revealed by the High Court registry which filed a consolidated report in connection with an order passed by a single judge MV Muralidaran last month.
The issue pertains to an interim order passed on December 18, 2018 by Justice MV Muralidaran, who was hearing a petition alleging that Avinashi judicial magistrate had closed 87 FIRs at one stroke for non-filing of charge sheet by police. The court had then directed the registry to call for particulars of such closure orders passed by magistrates across the state.
When the plea came up for hearing on Friday, the High Court registry filed a consolidated report informing the court that 2,14,901 FIRs had been closed in five years.
Justice Muralidaran wondered whether the Tamil Nadu police were doing any work at all. The court added that though the CrPC provided such power to magistrates, they could not close FIRs in such large numbers without trying to find out why charge sheets were not filed by police.
The court then directed the Home Secretary and DGP to file an explanation by January 25.
As per the report, Kancheepuram tops the list with 28,573 FIRs closed followed by Madurai with 26,351 and Cuddalore 14,310 FIRs. In Chennai 13,836, FIRs registered in the period were closed.
Justice Muralidaran condemned the conduct of the magistrate and police concerned and ordered the public prosecutor A Natarajan and additional advocate general P H Aravindh Pandian to personally inquire all the 87 cases by calling for an explanation from the police concerned.
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