The High Court
Case Details
1 Cr.M.P. No. 75 of 2023 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI Cr.M.P. No. 75 of 2023 Amar Nath Tripathi @ A.K. Tripathi, aged about -72 years, s/o Late Luxmi Narayan Tripathi, R/o Flat No. 202, Ashish Nidhi Apartment, New Karmik Nagar, Saraidhela, Damodarpur, P.O. and P.S.- Saraidhela, Dist.- Dhanbad, Jharkhand Versus ..... Petitioner 1. The State of Jharkhand 2. The Registrar General, Patna High Court, Patna, Address- Jawaharlal Nehru Marg, Veerchand Patel Road Area, P.O.- Patna High Court, P.S.- Patna, Dist.- Patna, Bihar ….. Opposite Parties For the Petitioner For the State : Mr. Soumitra Baroi, Adv. : Mr. Pankaj Kumar, PP P R E S E N T
Legal Reasoning
HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE ANIL KUMAR CHOUDHARY By the Court:- Heard the parties. 2. This criminal miscellaneous petition has been filed invoking the jurisdiction of this Court under Section 482 of Cr.P.C. with a prayer to quash and set aside the order dated 28.06.2022 passed by learned ACJM, Ranchi whereby and whereunder, the bail of the petitioner was cancelled and non-bailable warrant of arrest was issued upon him and also to set aside the order dated 29.11.2022 passed by learned ACJM, Ranchi, whereby and whereunder, proclamation under Section 82 of CrPC has been issued against the petitioner in connection with Complaint Case No. 99 of 1999 for the offence punishable under Section 177, 181, 182, 192, 196, 199, 209, 466, 468, 471, 474, 120B of the IPC. 3. The brief fact of the case is that the petitioner is an accused of Complaint Case No. 99 of 1999 and he was on bail. The petitioner was not appearing in the trial court for several dates, even though he was on bail, nor his lawyer was appearing and vide order dated 21.06.2022, the petitioner being the accused in the said Complaint Case No. 99 of 1999, was directed to remain present in court in person on 28.06.2022 for consideration of 2 Cr.M.P. No. 75 of 2023 framing of charge. In fact, the petitioner was not appearing before the trial court since 17.01.2020 and avoiding framing of charge by filing petition under Section 317 of CrPC, through his lawyer but on 12.03.2020, in spite of direction of the learned ACJM, Ranchi to appear physically before the court, for framing of charge, he went a step ahead and neither filed application under Section 317 of CrPC nor did appear physically before learned ACJM, Ranchi and continued to remain absent and ultimately, as already indicated above, on 28.06.2022 also, he did not appear before the court and learned trial court, keeping in view of the facts of the case, passed orders for issuance of non- bailable warrant of arrest. Vide order dated 29.11.2022, though the execution report of non-bailable warrant of arrest was not received, yet the proclamation under Section 82 of CrPC against the accused petitioner was issued by the learned ACJM, Ranchi. 4. It is submitted by learned counsel for the petitioner that because of outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic, the petitioner was unrepresented for several days and without application of mind, learned ACJM, Ranchi, has mechanically issued the proclamation under Section 82 of CrPC, even though the execution report of the non-bailable warrant of arrest was not received. Hence it is submitted that the order dated 28.06.2022 and order dated 29.11.2022 passed by learned ACJM, Ranchi in connection with Complaint Case No. 99 of 1999 be quashed and set aside. 5. Learned Public Prosecutor on the other hand, vehemently opposes the prayer for quashing of the order dated 28.06.2022 and order dated 29.11.2022 passed by learned ACJM, Ranchi in connection with Complaint Case No. 99 of 1999 and submits that COVID-19 pandemic is a lame excuse for the petitioner to remain absent from the court and even before the Covid-19 pandemic, he was not appearing and though on 12.03.2022, COVID-19 pandemic did not set in, still the petitioner did not appear in the court of learned ACJM, Ranchi, nor filed any petition for dispensing his personal appearance and this shows that the 3 Cr.M.P. No. 75 of 2023 petitioner has utter disregard to the process of law; as the complaint itself has been filed by learned Registrar General of the Patna High Court which shows his audacity and misconduct and scant regard for the law. Hence, it is submitted that no illegality having been committed by learned ACJM, Ranchi, in passing either of the two orders i.e. the order dated 28.06.2022 and the order dated 29.11.2022; this criminal miscellaneous petition being without any merit be dismissed. 6. Having heard the submissions made at the bar and after going through the materials in the record, this court finds that so far as the order dated 28.06.2022 is concerned, there is absolutely no illegality in the same; as because of the misconduct of the petitioner in not appearing in the court of learned ACJM, Ranchi, even before the COVID-19 pandemic set in, in ignoring the specific direction of the learned ACJM, Ranchi, to remain physically present on several dates, even though the petitioner was on bail, hence it is but natural for the learned ACJM, Ranchi, to cancel the bail granted to the petitioner and issue non-bailable warrant of arrest. Therefore, this court does not find any illegality in the order dated 28.06.2022. 7. So far as the order dated 29.11.2022 is concerned, by now, it is a settled principle of law that the court issuing the proclamation under Section 82 of CrPC, must record its satisfaction that the accused person of the case; in respect of whom proclamation under section 82 of CrPC is issued, before issuing such proclamation must be satisfied that the accused person is either absconding or concealing himself to evade his arrest and in case, it decides to issue the proclamation under Section 82 of CrPC, the court must mention the time and place for appearance of the accused in the order by which the proclamation under Section 82 of CrPC is issued. 8. Now coming to the facts of this case, learned ACJM, Ranchi has in no uncertain manner mentioned that the execution report of non- bailable warrant of arrest has not been received and there is no other material nor there is any satisfaction recorded by learned 4 Cr.M.P. No. 75 of 2023 ACJM, Ranchi that the petitioner is either absconding or concealing himself to evade his arrest nor learned ACJM, Ranchi has mentioned the time and place for the petitioner to appear in the said order, hence in the considered opinion of this court, the order dated 29.11.2022 by which the proclamation under section 82 of CrPC has been issued, is not sustainable in law and accordingly, continuation of the same will amount to abuse of process of law, and hence, the same is quashed and set aside. 9. The learned ACJM, Ranchi, may pass a fresh order in accordance with law. 10. This Criminal Miscellaneous Petition is allowed to the aforesaid extent only in respect of the order dated 29.11.2022. High Court of Jharkhand, Ranchi Dated, the 19th September, 2023 Smita /AFR (Anil Kumar Choudhary, J.)