Less than three months after an FIR was registered on a father’s complaint that his daughter was forced into physical relations after being abducted on the pretext of marriage, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed Punjab Director-General of Police (DGP) to place the probe under the supervision of the Special Director-General of Police, Women Affairs/Women Welfare.Justice Mandeep Pannu passed the order while partly allowing the petition seeking transfer of the investigation to the CBI or any other independent investigating agency after alleging that the official respondents were not conducting the investigation in a just, fair, impartial and reasonable manner and were instead acting in a biased and illegal manner.It was contended on the petitioners’ behalf contended that the daughter was abducted by the accused on the pretext of marriage, who thereafter established physical relations with her against her free will and consent after falsely promising marriage, captured her obscene photographs, continuously blackmailed her by threatening to circulate them on social media and send them to her family if she refused to continue physical relations, and later refused to marry her.Opposing the petition, the State submitted that the investigation was still underway and was being conducted strictly in accordance with law. It stated that the accused had since been released from custody by the Magistrate concerned on the basis of the material collected during the course of investigation. It is further submitted that investigation conducted till date indicated that the woman and the accused were unmarried and residing in a live-in relationship and “the allegations primarily arise out of a promise of marriage which was subsequently not fulfilled”.The State counsel further argued that the investigation had not yet been concluded, final opinion had not been formed, and the cancellation report had not been prepared or filed till date. It was, therefore, prayed that the present petition did not warrant any direction for transfer of investigation.After considering the rival submissions, Justice Pannu observed that the allegations raised in the petition were “undoubtedly serious in nature”. The Court asserted it was, at the current stage, neither required nor expected to record any finding on the truthfulness of those allegations, nor can this Court express any opinion regarding the correctness of the allegations levelled against any other individual.Justice Pannu further observed that the case was not an ordinary one because the petition questioned not only the allegations against the accused but also “the impartiality of the investigation itself and alleging external influence upon the investigating agency”.The Bench added: “Though all these allegations have been stoutly denied by the respondents, the fact remains that the present case is not an ordinary case where only allegations against the accused are in issue. Rather, the petition also contains allegations questioning the impartiality of the investigation itself and alleging external influence upon the investigating agency.“Significantly, even according to the State, the investigation is still underway and no final report, much less any cancellation report, has yet been prepared. Therefore, this Court is not required to pronounce upon the correctness of the rival allegations at this stage”.Holding that no case was made out for transfer of investigation to the CBI, Justice Pannu asserted: “In the facts and circumstances of the present case, this Court is of the considered opinion that while no case is made out for transfer of investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation, the interest of justice would be adequately served if the investigation is entrusted to a senior officer completely unconnected with the present investigation and carried out under the supervision of a senior police officer at the State level so as to inspire confidence in all concerned”.The court then directed Punjab DGP to forthwith place the investigation under the supervision of the Special Director General of Police, Women Affairs/Women Welfare, Punjab. The Special DGP, in turn, was directed to nominate a senior Gazetted Police Officer not associated with the investigation of the present case at any stage earlier and conduct the investigation under her overall supervision.“The newly nominated Investigating Officer shall independently examine the entire material collected till date, carry out such investigation as may be required in accordance with law, and conclude the investigation uninfluenced by any observation made in this order, as this Court has not expressed any opinion on the merits of the allegations levelled by either side,” the Bench asserted. Before parting with the case, the Court expressed the expectation that the investigation would be conducted “strictly in accordance with law, objectively, fairly, impartially and expeditiously, without being influenced by any extraneous consideration”.