The single judge bench of the Jharkhand High Court held that the relevant order sheet having been written by someone else and the Judicial Magistrate concerned has just put his signature mechanically without application of mind, is not sustainable in law. The court quashed the warrant of arrest issued.
Brief facts
The factual matrix of the case is that the Petitioner was filed for the issuance of the warrant of arrest against the Petitioner and the said was also allowed by the learned Judicial Magistrate. Aggrieved by this, the present criminal miscellaneous petition has been filed under Section 482 CrPC for quashing the order of proclamation issued under Section 82 Cr.P.C. against Petitioner.
Contentions of the Petitioner
The Petitioner contended that the learned judicial magistrate had issued an order in a mechanical manner without recording any satisfaction that the Petitioner was evading his arrest. It was furthermore contended that the proclamation issued was without any time and place for the appearance of the Petitioner.
Contentions of the State
The State contended that a non-bailable warrant of arrest itself shows that there were materials available in the record for the learned Magistrate to be satisfied that there is justification for issuance of such proclamation and non-bailable warrant of arrest.
Observations of the court
The Hon’ble Court observed that under Section 73 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Magistrate of the First Class, among other things, has the authority to issue a warrant for the arrest within the local jurisdiction inter alia any person who is the accused of non-bailable and evading his arrest.
The Hon’ble Court observed that nothing has been specifically mentioned in the said order that the Petitioner is involved in the nonbailable offence. Furthermore, there is no observation in the order which suggests that the Petitioner is evading arrest.
The court noted that the relevant order sheet had been written by someone else and the Judicial Magistrate concerned had just put his signature mechanically without application of mind, which is not sustainable in law.
The court furthermore noted that it is a settled principle of law that in order to avoid being arrested, the accused in question is either fleeing or hiding, so the court that issues the proclamation under Section 82 of Cr.P.C. must document its satisfaction that this is the case. If the court decides to issue a proclamation under Section 82 of Cr.P.C., it must specify the petitioner's appearance time and location in the order that issues the proclamation under Section 82 of Cr.P.C.
Based on these considerations, the court quashed and set aside an order issued by the Learned Judicial Magistrate.
The decision of the court
With the above direction, the court allowed the criminal miscellaneous petition.
Case Title: Abhishek Kumar V. The State of Jharkhand
Coram: Hon’ble Mr. Justice Anil Kumar Choudhary
Case No.: Cr.M.P. No. 1649 of 2024
Advocate for the Petitioner: Mr. Devesh Ajmani, Advocate
Advocate for the State: Mr. Satish Prasad, Addl. P.P
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