Chennai, Jul 6: The Madras High Court today dismissed a PIL seeking a direction to CB-CID to arrest army personnel in connection with the killing of a 13-year-old boy, describing it as a “publicity interest litigation”.
The bench also said the army personnel should cooperate in the investigation into the death of Dilshan who died of gunshot wounds received when he trespassed into the army officers residential complex here last Sunday.
The First Bench, comprising Chief Justice M Y Eqbal and Justice T S Sivagnanam, said, “The petitioner, who designed this writ petition as a public interest litigation, does not know as to who has killed the boy.
“The only fact is that the boy was killed near the army personnel's residence. On this fact, a mandamus has been sought for directing the CB-CID to immediately arrest the army personnel responsible for the killing of the young boy,” the bench said.
The bench found that prima facie it was not a public interest litigation but a publicity interest litigation. In the PIL, advocate P Pugalenthi said the culprit had not been nabbed even after two days after the incident and the process of investigation was “surprisingly slow”.
He submitted that just because army personnel were involved in the crime, it cannot be treated lightly. When the matter came up for hearing, the petitioner's counsel sought a direction to CB-CID to immediately arrest the army personnel responsible for the killing.
Advocate General A Navaneethakrishnan told the court that investigation was going on and all steps had been taken to find out the culprit.
Additional Solicitor General M Ravindran also submitted that police had taken all steps and the Army personnel were cooperating with the investigation. PTI
