Chargesheets must after FIR in Cril cases : CM
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, August 02 2024: Chief Minister N Biren Singh has categorically stated that a relevant authority can take up action against any Investigating Officer if he or she fails to submit a chargesheet in a criminal case after registering an FIR.

The Chief Minister made the statement while responding to a query raised by Opposition MLA K Ranjit during question hour on the third day of the ongoing Assembly session.

During the question hour, K Ranjit asked how many criminal cases were taken up in the last five years and the corresponding chargesheets submitted in the same period.

The Congress MLA also asked whether penalties were given to the IOs who failed to submit chargsheets for the case they handled on time.

To the query, the Chief Minister responded that 37976 FIRs were registered in the last five years of which chargesheets were submitted for 2332 cases.

N Biren also said that 11,892 cases are related with the ongoing crisis in Manipur which began on May 3, 2023 .

Saying that senior officers are supervising these investigations, he added that the relevant authority instructs the IOs to frame charges and book the criminals on time regularly.

After hearing the response of the Chief Minister, K Ranjit argued that justice has been denied to over 35,000 victims of criminal offences as chargesheets of only 2332 criminal cases were submitted.

He then asked after how many days or months a chargesheet should be submitted after registering an FIR.

Responding to the supplementary question, the Chief Minister said that there is a convention that says a chargesheet should be submitted within six months after registering an FIR.

A Court can give bail to a suspect if the chargesheet is not submitted within the set period (six months), he added.

It, however, would be wrong to conclude that failure to frame charges on time is denial of justice, the Chief Minister said.

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