High Court
Case Details
WP(C) 928/2005 BEFORE HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE I.A. ANSARI HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE P.K.MUSAHARY JUDGMENT & ORDER (ORAL) (Ansari, J) With the help of this application, made under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioners, who are parents of Mofizul Haque (since deceased), have sought for examplanary punishment to be given to those police p ersonnel, who had, according to the petitioners, killed their son by resorting t o physical torture, while Mofizul Haque was in police custody, and threw his dea d body into the river Brahmaputra near post Nos. 20 - 21 of Kaliabhumura bridge.
Legal Reasoning
(cid:28)admittedly prima facie amounted to petitions even though they were not fit The High Court failed to appreciate that deceased coming into contact wit transmission lines of the appell cases fo 226 of the Constitution. The High Court that as the deaths had taken place tertaining the writ r exercising power under Article went wrong in proceeding on the basis because of electrocution as a result of the h ants, that f the appellants. (cid:29) all these cases were actions in tort and negligence was required to be establis hed firstly by the claimants. Mere fact that the wire of the electric transmissi on line belonging to the appellant No. 1 had snapped and the deceased had come i nto contact with it and had died was not by itself sufficient for awarding compe nsation. It is also required to be examined whether the wire had snapped as a re sult of any negligence of the appellants and under which circumstances the decea sed had come into contact with the wire. In view of the specific defences raised by the appellants in each of these cases they deserved an opportunity to prove that proper care and precautions were taken in maintaining the transmission line s and yet the wires had snapped because of circumstances beyond their control or unauthorized intervention of third parties or that the deceased had not died in the manner stated by the petitioners. These questions could not have been decid negligence on the part o ed properly on the basis of affidavits only. It is the settled legal position th at where disputed questions of facts are involved a petition under Article 226 o f the Constitution is not a proper remedy. The High Court has not and could not have held that the disputes in these cases were raised for the sake of raising t hem and that there was no substance therein. The High Court should have directed the writ petitioners to approach the Civil Court as it was done in OJC No.5229 of 1995. (cid:29) 15. Thus, in Sukamani Das’ case (supra),the Apex Court has, nowhere laid do wn that the remedy, under Article 226, would not be available in all such cases , where compensation for tortuous act is claimed against the State or an instrum entality of the State. What Sukamani Das’ case (supra) lays down really is that when the question of compensation cannot be decided without determination of th e correctness or veracity of such pleaded facts, which are intensely disputed, r ecourse to Article 226 is not proper. 16. In other words, Sukamani Das’ case (supra) does not completely bar a Hi gh Court from invoking its jurisdiction, under Article 226, for awarding compens ation to a victim who may have suffered injury or loss due to tortuous act of th e State or an instrumentality of the State or public body or employees thereof. In fact, Sukamani Das’ case (supra) is not an authority for the proposition tha t in no case of tortuous liability, where the State denies its liability, recour se to Article 226 can be had at all. What the Apex Court has laid down, in Sukam ani Das’ case (supra), is that when a writ petition, seeking compensation for t ortuous acts of a Government servant, is filed, High Court would decline to exer cise its jurisdiction, under Article 226, if the writ petition involves determin ation of disputed questions of fact. 17. In Tamil Nadu Electricity Board Vs. Sumathi & Ors. reported in (2000) 4 SCC 543, the Supreme Court has, in fact, clarified that when disputed questions of fact arise and there is clear denial of any tortuous liability, the public la w remedy, as envisaged by Article 226 of the Constitution, may not be proper, bu t this will not mean that in every case of tortuous liability, recourse must be had to a suit and not to a writ petition, for when the negligence is apparent, t here would be, according to a writ petition, for when the negligence is apparent , there would be, according to what the Apex Court holds, in Sumathi (supra), no bar to the invoking of jurisdiction under Article 226. The relevant observation s, at para 9 of Sumathi(supra), read as under :- (cid:28) (cid:28)In view of the clear proposition of law laid by this Court in Sukumani Das’ case when a disputed questions of fact arise and there is clear de nial of any tortuous liability, remedy lies under Article 226 of the Constituti on may not be proper. However, it can not be understood as laying a law that in every case of tortuous liability, recourse must be had to a suit. When there is negligence ion the face of it and infringement of Article 21 is there, it cannot be sad that there will be any bar to proceed under Article 226 of the Constitut ion, right to life is one of the basic human rights guaranteed under Article 226 of the Constitution. (cid:29) (cid:29) 18. S.D.O. Grid Corporation of Orissa Ltd. & Anr. Vs. Timuda Oram, AIR 2005 SC 3971 : (2005) 6 SCC 156, is yet another case, wherein the Supreme Court consi dered the question if the High Court was justified in exercising its power under Article 226 of the Constitution and in awarding compensation to the writ petiti oner, though the respondents, in the writ petition, had denied their liability o n the ground that the death had not occurred as a result of their negligence, bu t because of negligence of the writ petitioner or because of an act of God or be cause of acts of some other persons. Having considered the facts of each of the cases, which were involved in Timudu Oram (supra) the Supreme Court held that si nce the appellants had disputed the negligence attributed to them and no finding had been recorded by the High Court that the Grid Corporation of Orissa Ltd., w as, in any way, negligent in the performance of its duty, the High court was not justified in awarding compensation by invoking its jurisdiction under Article 2 26. 19. It is worth noticing that Timuda Oram (supra), involved cases, which wer e to be listed along with the case of Sukamani Das (supra), but were left out o r could not be dealt with as the service had not been completed on the responden ts. Thus, neither Sukamani Das (supra) nor Timudu Oram (supra) lays down, as a n absolute and invariable rule, that under no circumstances, the State, in a pro ceeding under Article 226, can be held liable for the tortuous act of its servan t if the accident is the result of an act done in exercise of duty by its employ ee or due to omission to exercise duty by the employee concerned. What Sukamani Das (supra) and Timudu Oram (supra) do lay down is that when a claim for comp ensation, arising out of tortuous act, is made and the facts are in dispute, rec ourse to Article 226 is not proper and it is institution of suit which is the ap propriate remedy in such a case. (cid:29) 14. Because of what have been discussed and pointed out above, we ar e of the considered view that the petitioners cannot be granted, in exercise of extra-ordinary jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitut ion of India, the reliefs, which they have sought for, in this writ petition, wh en the facts, as pleaded by them, stand stoutly denied and contradicted by the r espondents. 15. gly stand dismissed. This writ petition, therefore, fails and the same shall accordin 16. In the facts and circumstances of the present case, we, however, leave the parties to bear their own cost.
Arguments
2. We have heard Mr. I. Talukdar, learned counsel for the petitione rs, and Mrs. Sumitra Sarma, learned Addl. Government Advocate for the respondent State. 3. Before we come to the question as to what reliefs, if any, can b e granted to the petitioners in the present writ petition, it needs to be noted that a written information was lodged, on 29.12.2004, by one Rupjyoti Borah, res ident of village Puthikathi, Dekargaon Police Station, Ulonibari, alleging, inte r alia, that on that very day, i.e., on 29.12.2004, one of his bullocks was stol en away from Barpathar area of Dekargaon, where the bullock had been left for g razing, and when he was returning from Nagaon town, he saw three persons taking away his bullock, over the Kaliabhumura bridge, towards Nagaon and, having recog nized his bullock, when he enquired from the said persons as to where the bulloc k was being taken to, one of the miscreants, at that point of time, ran away and the other two persons were caught red-handed by the police, who were manning th e check gate at the bridge, the names of the two persons, who were so apprehende d by police personnel, being one Md. Jamaluddin and the other Md. Abu Taher. 4. Treating the said information as First Information Report (in sh ort, ’FIR’), Tezpur Police Station Case No. 898 of 2004, under Section 379 IPC, was registered against the said two persons, namely, accused Jamaluddin and Md. Abu Taher. 5. The petitioner No. 1 herein, on 3.1.2005, lodged a written infor mation with the Officer-In-Charge, Tezpur Police Station, alleging, inter alia, that while their son, Mofizul Haque, was, on 29.12.2004, returning home, on hi s bicycle from Tezpur, he was apprehended, at about 4.30 P.M., over Kaliabhumura bridge, by police personnel, beaten and tortured in presence of witnesses and, after having beaten their son, for about an hour, when their son succumbed to t he torture, which he had been subjected to, the police personnel threw the dead body of Mofizul Haque into the river and in the evening of 30.12.2004, the dead body of Mofizul Haque was found near post Nos. 20-21 of Kaliabhumura bridge, the dead body having marks of injuries. Treating the information, so given by the p etitioner No. 1 herein, to the Officer-In-Charge, Tezpur Police Station, as Firs t Information Report, Tezpur Police Station Case No. 14/2005, under Sections 302 /201 IPC, was registered against police personnel of Kaliabhumura bridge. 6. Both the cases aforementioned, namely, Tezpur Police Station Cas e No. 898 of 2004 as well as Tezpur Police Station Case No. 14/2005 aforemention ed were investigated and, upon completion of investigation, while charge-sheet h as been submitted in Tezpur Police Station Case No. 898/2004, the Investigating Officer has submitted final report, in Tezpur Police Station Case No. 14 of 2005 , on the ground of inadequacy of materials supporting the allegations. 7. Aggrieved by the above outcome of the investigation, this writ p etition has been filed by the petitioners, as indicated above, reiterating their case that their son, Mofizul Haque, had gone to Tezpur town, on 29.12.2004, at about 10 AM, and when he was returning home on his bicycle and reached Kaliabhu mura bridge, at about 4.15 PM, along with his belongings, some police personnel, who were on duty, over the bridge, picked up their son, detained him in their c ustody, severely tortured him and their son, eventually, succumbed to the tortur e and his dead body was, then, thrown into the river by the police. 8. The allegations, so made, have been denied stoutly by th e respondents, their case being, as already indicated above, that the informant of Tezpur Police Station Case No. 898 of 2004, on finding his bullock being take n away over the bridge, made query from the three persons, who were taking away the bullock, and those three persons responded by saying that they had purchase d the said bullock ; but, as the complainant was not convinced with their reply, he informed the police personnel, who were guarding the bridge, and the police personnel caught hold of two of the miscreants and the third one fled away towar ds the south, but when he saw the police on the other side of the bridge, too, h e, finding no way, jumped into the river Brahmaputra from the bridge leaving beh ind the two apprehended accused, namely, Md. Jamaluddin and Md. Abu Taher and th at it was, later on, ascertained that the person, who had jumped from the bridg e, was Md. Mofizul Haque, i.e. the son of the present petitioners, and that when the dead body of Mofizul was recovered, on 30.12.2004, UD Case No. 113/2004, da ted 30.12.2004, was registered and investigated and the post mortem report reve aled that Mofizul died, because of head injury and drowning, that he got drowned after he had sustained injury on his head and that no other injury was detected on his dead body. According to the respondents herein, the head injury, found on the body of Mofizul Haque, might have been caused as a result of his hitting any of the pillars and/or any hard substance, while falling down from the bridge . What emerges from the narration of above facts is that w 9. hile the petitioners allege that their son, Md. Mofizul Haque, had been physica lly tortured by the police personnel and after he had died, he was thrown from t he bridge into the river, the respondents deny the same and claim that Mofizul H aque, having found that he was about to be caught, because of the theft of the b ullock aforementioned, had himself jumped into the river from the bridge and die d, because of the head injury, which he had received and, eventually, got drowne d. 10. It is, thus, transparent that the version, which the petitioners have presented, is denied and contradicted by the respondents on the basis of t he investigation, which had been allegedly carried out. What the petitioners hav e alleged may or may not be true. The truth can be ascertained and the guilty, i f any, can be punished by taking recourse to appropriate provision of law. When , having conducted investigation, police claim to have found no credible materia l to submit charge-sheet against any person as assailant of the said son of the petitioners, the petitioners’ remedy lies, in a case of present nature, in filin g a complaint making their allegations, which, according to them, constitute the offence and if such a complaint is made, the same shall be dealt with in accord ance with law. Though Mr. Talukdar, learned counsel for the petitioners, has so 11. ught for a direction to be issued to the Sessions Judge, Sonitpur, to conduct an enquiry into the matter, we are of the view that no fruitful purpose will be se rved by issuing such a direction, which the petitioners are seeking, inasmuch no one can be punished on the basis of an enquiry, which the Sessions Judge may co nduct, and if the guilty has to be punished, then, he has to be punished by hold ing an appropriate trial. To put it a little differently, an enquiry cannot bec ome a substitute for trial and, hence, we have not been able to persuade ourselv es to issue a direction for enquiry, which the petitioners, at this juncture, se ek. 12. So far as the question of compensation is concerned, we may poin t out that the petitioners have not, in specific terms, asked for compensation; but when the facts are in dispute, the appropriate course, for the petitioners, to be resorted to, is institution of a civil suit claiming compensation and if t he petitioners can prove the case in accordance with law, compensation would fol low. A proceeding, under Article 226 of the Constitution of India is 13. not an appropriate proceeding for the purpose of seeking compensation on dispute d question of facts. Such a course of action is impermissible in law. A referenc e, in this regard, may be made to the case of Khiradabala Nath & Ors. VS. ASEB & Ors. reported in 2008 4 GLT 116, wherein one of us (Hon’ble I.A. Ansari, J) obs erved and held as under : 13. In Chairman, Grid Corporation of Orissa Limited (GRIDI) Vs. Sukamani Das , (1999) 7 SCC 298, the question, as posed by the Court itself, was whether the High Court was justified in exercising its power under Article 226 of the Consti tution and awarding compensation to the writ petitioners even though the appella nts, who were the respondents in the said writ petition, had denied their liabil ity on the ground that the death had not occurred as a result of their negligenc e, but because of an act of God or because of acts of some other persons. 14. It is also pertinent to note that in Sukamani Das’s case(supra), several writ petitions were considered, wherein compensation for death caused due to el ectrocution had been claimed by filing petitions under Article 226. All these wr it petitions were resisted by the authorities, who were supplying electrical ene rgy, by denying their liabilities on the ground, inter alia, that the deaths had been caused not as a result of the action or inaction of the service provider o f electricity, but because of act of God or acts of some other persons. Having e xamined the pleaded facts of each of the cases involved in Sukamani Das’ case (s upra), the Supreme court concluded that all the writ petitions involved disputed questions of fact. It is in such circumstances that the Supreme Court pointed o ut that recourse to Article 226 is not proper, when disputed questions of fact a re involved and the High Court ought to have directed the writ petitioners to ap proach the civil court. The relevant observations, made in Sukamani Das’ case ( supra), in this regard, read as under :- (cid:28)In our opinion, the High Court committed an error in en snapped live wires of the electric