New Delhi: Delhi Police officials had to face the ire of a court here which noted that the investigation agency cannot "act as per their whims and fancies" and that the courts have ample power to check the misuse or abuse of powers by the probe agencies.
The court was deciding a bail application on January 28 when it observed that both the complainant and the accused had encroached upon government land and Delhi Police didn't do anything about it.
When the court asked the police to transfer the investigation to some specialised agency dealing with land-grabbing matters, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Central District replied that "it being the prerogative of the Investigating Agency the matter was not transferred".
To this, the court said that the report of DCP was based on wrong premises besides being evasive in nature.
"Even if the investigation is the prerogative of the investigation agency, the IO as well as his senior officers, including the DCP and above-rank police officers should keep in mind that this discretion is not absolute.
"The investigation agency cannot act as per their whims and fancies and the courts have ample power to check the misuse or abuse of powers by the investigation agencies," the court noted.
It also said that the energy of senior police officers should better be spent on improving the investigation mechanism instead of justifying manifestly improper conduct of investigating officers.