India’s Supreme Court ruling allows probe without state consent

(February 20, 2010) India’s Supreme Court and High courts can now order probes by the Central Bureau of Investigation in any part of India, even without prior consent of the Centre or the state governments, according to a new ruling by the Supreme Court of India. A five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan delivered the ruling on February 17. The main contention of the petition was that court cannot order CBI investigation in a case unless and until the concerned state government agreed to hand over the probe to the agency. While delivering the ruling, the Supreme Court noted that the High Courts and the Supreme Court are custodians and protectors of fundamental rights of the citizens. As every citizen is entitled to free and fair investigation, the State cannot be permitted to deprive the victims of a crime or malicious prosecution of their rights to get justice through such a probe. Well-known human rights activist Lenin Raghuvanshi who heads the Peoples' Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR), hailed the ruling as a “milestone judgement.” He told Asia News that justice will now be served in cases where states are not keen on investigations into corruption or genocide, “in Orissa or in Gujarat,” where state officials are involved in violating the human rights of ordinary people, Raghuvanshi said.