In Brief
A man died during a police lathi charge on an election day in West Bengal. His widow filed a complaint against three police officers—an Assistant Commissioner and two subordinate officers—for murder. The Supreme Court held that the Assistant Commissioner, being removable only by the Government, needed prior government sanction to be prosecuted. However, the subordinate officers did not fall under Section 197(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code at the time cognizance was taken in 2001. A state notification issued in 2010 granting protection to subordinate officers could not retrospectively affect proceedings that had already begun. The Court dismissed the appeal and allowed the trial against the subordinate officers to proceed.
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