New Delhi: Observing that when there is inordinate delay in concluding an investigation and a citizen has to run from pillar to post to raise his complaint, the Constitutional Courts should not remain mute spectators, the Supreme Court took exception to the Gujarat Police not completing the investigation which has been going on for more than 20 years and directed it to complete the task within six weeks.A bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and AG Masih said the complaint was filed before the Judicial Magistrate First Class in 2007 and the complainant’s plea seeking direction to the police to file a charge sheet in the case was rejected by the Gujarat High Court.“This Court believes that it is incumbent on the constitutional courts not to remain a mute spectator when such a lengthy investigation is brought to its notice. Therefore, in such peculiar circumstances, the High Court should exercise its extraordinary jurisdiction to intervene in the present case,” she said.“In the present factual matrix, almost two decades have passed since the original complainant initiated the complaint. However, it is a matter of serious concern that despite the passage of so long, the investigation is yet to reach any meaningful conclusion. From a perusal of the record, it is clear that the original complainant was running from pillar to post to file charge sheet in connection with his complaint, but to no avail.”The investigation of the case was delayed as the material seized during the investigation was lost during transit after the FSL investigation and was never received by the Judicial Magistrate. The HC had ordered a re-investigation in the case in 2017 but the original case papers remained inaccessible and disciplinary proceedings were initiated against the officer concerned and appropriate action was taken.“We are of the view that such incidents, wherein case records are lost during active investigation, should be taken with utmost seriousness. Moreover, such incidents strike at the very core of the criminal justice system, leading to inaction of genuine complaints. Therefore, in the interest of justice, we direct the State of Gujarat and the Bhiloda Police Station to complete the investigation within a period of six weeks from today and file a proper report with the Judicial Magistrate containing all the investigation material and if so, what is missing,” The bench said. Said.