Moni Singh, aged about 36 years, wife of Ratnesh Kumar, daughter of Shyam Dev v. 1. The State of Jharkhand 2. Kalpana Singh, aged about 48 years, wife of
Case Details
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI Cr.M.P. No.1170 of 2024 ------ Moni Singh, aged about 36 years, wife of Ratnesh Kumar, daughter of Shyam Dev Singh, resident of Flat No.-4/2, Mittal Prabhawati Apartment, Adarsh Nagar East Sonari, P.O.+P.S.- Sonari, District- East Singhbhum, Jamshedpur, Jharkhand- 831011 … Petitioner Versus 1. The State of Jharkhand 2. Kalpana Singh, aged about 48 years, wife of Late Devendra Singh mother of deceased Shilpi Singh, resident of Adarsh Nagar, New Gawala Basti, Near Durga Mandir, P.O.-, P.S.- Sonari, District- East Singhbhum, Jamshedpur, Jharkhand … Opposite Parties With Cr.M.P. No.1171 of 2024 ------ Indu Devi, aged about 60 years, wife of Shyam Dev Singh, resident of Ward No.-3, Village Chinnegaon, P.O. and P.S. Sinha, District Bhojpur, Bihar – 802312 … Petitioner Versus 1. The State of Jharkhand 2. Kalpana Singh, aged about 48 years, wife of Late Devendra Singh mother of deceased Shilpi Singh, resident of Adarsh Nagar, New Gawala Basti, Near Durga Mandir, P.O. & P.S.- Sonari, District- East Singhbhum, Jamshedpur, Jharkhand … Opposite Parties With Cr.M.P. No.1174 of 2024 ------ Nargis Devi alias Nargis Singh, aged about 39 years, wife of 1 Cr. M.P. No.1170 of 2024 & allied cases
Legal Reasoning
Promad Kumar Singh, daughter of Sri Shyam Dev Singh resident of Village Ganghar, P.O.+P.S. Ganghar Tola, District Bhojpur, Bihar- 802312 … Petitioner Versus 1. The State of Jharkhand 2. Kalpana Singh, aged about 48 years, wife of Late Devendra Singh mother of deceased Shilpi Singh, resident of Adarsh Nagar, New Gawala Basti, Near Durga Mandir, P.O. & P.S.- Sonari, District- East Singhbhum, Jamshedpur, Jharkhand For the Petitioners For the State For the O.P. No.2 … Opposite Parties ------ : Mr. Vikash Kr. Pandey, Advocate Ms. Aprajita Mishra, Advocate (Both in Cr.M.P. No.1170 of 2024 & allied cases) : Mr. Bhola Nath Ojha, Spl.P.P. (Cr.M.P. No.1170 of 2024) Mr. Satish Prasad, Addl.P.P. (Cr.M.P. No.1171 of 2024) Mr. Shailesh Kr. Sinha, Addl.P.P. (Cr.M.P. No.1174 of 2024) : Mrs. Jasvindar Mazumdar, Advocate (Cr.M.P. No.1170 of 2024 & Cr.M.P. No.1174 of 2024) Mr. Rohan Mazumdar, Advocate (Cr.M.P. No.1170 of 2024 & allied cases) ------ P R E S E N T HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE ANIL KUMAR CHOUDHARY By the Court:- Heard the parties. 2. Since all these three Criminal Miscellaneous Petitions have been filed invoking the jurisdiction of this court under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure with the same prayer for quashing the orders dated 17.01.2024 and 20.03.2024 passed by the Judicial Magistrate-1st Class, Jamshedpur in connection with Sonari P.S. Case No.160 of 2023 whereby and where under non-bailable warrant of arrest and the proclamation under Section 82 of Code 2 Cr. M.P. No.1170 of 2024 & allied cases of Criminal Procedure have been issued respectively. Hence, all these three
Decision
Criminal Miscellaneous Petitions are disposed of by this common judgment. 3. The brief facts of the case is that on 17.01.2024, an application for issuing non-bailable warrant of arrest against the petitioners of these three cases as well as the co-accused, was made by the Investigating Officer and the learned Judicial Magistrate-1st Class, Jamshedpur issued non-bailable warrant of arrest against the petitioners. On 20.03.2024, the Investigating Officer of the case filed a petition praying therein to issue the process under Section 82 of Cr.P.C. inter alia against the petitioners along with Execution Report of the warrant of arrest issued against them and related photocopy of the case-diary. The learned Judicial Magistrate-1st Class, Jamshedpur considered that consequent upon issue of non-bailable warrant of arrest on 17.01.2024, police raided the house of the petitioners on several dates as mentioned in the case-diary and the police obtained the signature of the witnesses in the Execution Report of the non- bailable warrant of arrest and being satisfied that the petitioners were absconding or concealing themselves to evade their arrest. The learned Judicial Magistrate-1st Class directed for issue of the proclamation under Section 82 of Cr.P.C. fixing time and place for appearance of the petitioners. 4. Learned counsel for the petitioners relies upon the judgment of the Coordinate Bench of this Court in the case of Md. Rustum Alam @ Rustam & Others vs. The State of Jharkhand passed in Cr.M.P. No.2722 of 2019 dated 27.04.2020 and submits that the order dated 17.01.2024 has been passed without recording any satisfaction that the petitioners are evading their arrest. Hence, it is submitted that the same is not sustainable in law. It is next submitted that the petitioners are females and respectable persons of the society. It is further Cr. M.P. No.1170 of 2024 3 & allied cases submitted that the order dated 20.03.2024 is also bad in law. In that order also, no satisfactory ground has been mentioned for issuing the proclamation under Section 82 of Cr.P.C. Hence, it is submitted that the prayer, as prayed for in theses Criminal Miscellaneous Petitions, be allowed. 5. Learned Addl.P.P. appearing for the State and the learned counsel for the opposite party No.2 on the other hand vehemently oppose the prayer of the petitioners of these three Criminal Miscellaneous Petitions and submit that the undisputed fact is that the petitioners are accused of Sonari P.S. Case No.160 of 2023 registered for the offences punishable under Sections 306/34 of the Indian Penal Code and as also under Section 3/4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act in which investigation is going but the petitioners are absconding or concealing themselves and not co-operating with the investigation of the case. It is next submitted that the order dated 20.03.2024 do not suffer from any infirmity as all the requirements of law has been fulfilled by the learned Judicial Magistrate-1st Class, Jamshedpur while passing orders for issue of the proclamation under Section 82 of Cr.P.C. It is also submitted that the petitioners have made an erroneous submission that the learned Judicial Magistrate-1st Class, Jamshedpur has not recorded satisfactory ground for issuing the proclamation under Section 82 of Cr.P.C. Hence, it is submitted that these three Criminal Miscellaneous Petitions, being without any merit, be dismissed. 6. Having heard the rival submissions made at the Bar and after carefully going through the materials available in the record, it is pertinent to mention here that so far as the order dated 17.01.2024 is concerned, Section 73 of Cr.P.C. vests the power inter alia upon a Magistrate of 1st Class to direct a warrant to any person within his local jurisdiction for arrest of inter alia any person who is Cr. M.P. No.1170 of 2024 4 & allied cases the accused of non-bailable offence and is evading arrest. No doubt, there is no dispute that the petitioners are accused of a non-bailable offence punishable under Section 306/34 of the Indian Penal Code and under Section 3/4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act but there is absolutely no satisfaction recorded by the learned Judicial Magistrate-1st Class, Jamshedpur that the petitioners are evading their arrest. As without recording the satisfaction that the petitioners are evading their arrest, learned Judicial Magistrate-1st Class, Jamshedpur having directed to issue non-bailable warrant of arrest, hence, this Court is of the considered view that the order dated 17.01.2024 passed by the learned Judicial Magistrate-1st Class, Jamshedpur in connection with Sonari P.S. Case No.160 of 2023 is not in accordance with law. Hence, this is a fit case where the order dated 17.01.2024 passed by the learned Judicial Magistrate-1st Class, Jamshedpur in connection with Sonari P.S. Case No.160 of 2023, be quashed and set aside. 7. Accordingly, the order dated 17.01.2024 passed by the learned Judicial Magistrate-1st Class, Jamshedpur in connection with Sonari P.S. Case No.160 of 2023, is quashed and set aside. 8. So far as the order dated 20.03.2024 is concerned, this Court finds that there is no merit in the contention of the petitioners that without recording any satisfaction in accordance with law, the learned Judicial Magistrate-1st Class, Jamshedpur has issued the proclamation under Section 82 of Cr.P.C. is devoid as of any merit because the learned Judicial Magistrate-1st Class, Jamshedpur has not only mentioned but discussed in detail the circumstances of police raiding the house of the accused and on the basis of the materials available in the record, has recorded the satisfaction that the petitioners are absconding or Cr. M.P. No.1170 of 2024 5 & allied cases concealing themselves to evade their arrest and only after recording such satisfaction, has ordered for issue of proclamation under Section 82 of Cr.P.C. Hence, there is no illegality in the order dated 20.03.2024 passed by the learned Judicial Magistrate-1st Class, Jamshedpur in connection with Sonari P.S. Case No.160 of 2023. Hence, the same is not interfered with. 9. In the result, these three Criminal Miscellaneous Petitioners are allowed to the aforesaid extent only. (Anil Kumar Choudhary, J.) High Court of Jharkhand, Ranchi Dated the 26th of September, 2024 AFR/ Saroj 6 Cr. M.P. No.1170 of 2024 & allied cases