Supreme Court imposes fine on SHO for non-compliance, warns of contempt proceedings

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has imposed a fine on a UP Police officer for failing to comply with its directives, not ensuring adherence to its orders and maintaining the integrity of judicial proceedings.

The officer in question is the SHO, Police Station Noida Sector 49 in Uttar Pradesh's Gautam Buddha Nagar, and the case relates to a dowry death.

Despite the court's order dated January 29, requiring the production of witnesses from the deceased's family before the trial court on February 7, compliance was notably absent.

The petitioner/accused was detained in jail for more than five years in a case registered under Section 304 B (dowry death) of ​​the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and the trial is pending in the Gautam Buddha Nagar court.

Advocates Rudra Vikram Singh and Abhishek Singh appeared for the accused.

The apex court has mandated the head of the District Police to submit an affidavit clarifying the reasons behind the failure to produce the said witnesses.

Furthermore, a penalty of Rs 25,000 has been levied on the SHO/Investigating Officer, to be paid from personal funds, and explicitly stated not to be reimbursable by the state government. The amount is to be deposited with the Supreme Court Advocates’ on Record Welfare Fund within a week.

The top court has warned that failure to produce the witnesses on the next scheduled date or within 15 days of the subsequent hearing will lead to contempt of court proceedings against the offending officer or official.

The case is slated for further hearing on March 20.