Addl. D.G.-Cum-I.G. (Prisons) vs Union Of India (Uoi) And Ors.
2002 Latest Caselaw 86 Del

JUDGMENT

Devinder Gupta, J.

1. The Additional Director General-cum-I.G. (Prisons) by communication dated 26th May, 2001 brought to the notice of this Court some of the grievances of the prisoners lodged in Central Jail Tihar and stating that many of them do not get information about the filing number of their appeals/petitions from the Registry of this Court despite repeated reminders. It is alleged that Prafful Kumar s/o Lalji Bhai sent his appeal in the case FIR No. 121/96 under Section 302, I.P.C. and Section 25 Arms Act, P.S. Shakar Pur against judgment and order dated 21st March, 1998 passed by the Court of Addl. Sessions Judge, Delhi through Superintendent, Central Jail, Tihar on 23rd September, 1998 but he could not get information about the result of same despite reminders. He has prayed for suitable directions. Taking into consideration the nature of issues raised, the communication was ordered to be registered as writ petition for redressal of the grievances of prisoners lodged in Tihar Jail. Notice was issued to Registrar General of this Court and the State.

2. In the reply filed by the Deputy Registrar on behalf of Registrar General, Delhi High Court, it is stated that jail authorities send/forward the jail petitions/appeals by post to the High Court and a few petitions may be getting misplaced in the transit. Suggestions have also been given for streamling the handling of jail petitions in future.

3. We have heard learned counsel for the parties and have gone through the record. Section 382 of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 provides that every petition/appeal shall be in writing and in the form of a petition presented by the appellant or his pleader. These are required to be accompanied by the copy of the judgment and the order under appeal, unless it is directed otherwise. Section 383 of the Code provides that if the appellant is in jail he may present his petition/or appeal and copies of documents accompanying the same through the officer-in-charge of jail who is required thereupon to forward them to the proper Court. Thus, responsibility to forward such petitions/appeals along with the documents to the concerned Court rests with the officer-in-charge of the jail. There appears to be some communication gap between the officials reasonable to forward the jail petitions/appeals and the officials in the Registry who are required to process such petitions and put up before the Court for consideration. In order to obviate the difficulties projected before us, we hereby direct that the following procedure be followed in respect of jail petitions :

i) Jail petitions/appeals duly typed in English in proper form along with copy of judgment/order and other relevant documents, if any, with English transaction of vernacular documents should be sent through the officer-in-charge, Central Jail, Tihar and the same shall be accepted at the Filing Counter of the Registry of this Court.

ii) Every criminal appeal/jail petition the appellant/petitioner shall state that no such appeal/jail petition application in the same matter has previously been filed and without that statement such appeal/petition shall not be accepted.

iii) Criminal appeals/jail petitions so filed shall be accepted by the filing counter of the Registry and give the filing number to the official filing such appeals/petitions.

iv) The criminal appeals/jail petitions which are required to be heard by the Division Bench shall be filed in duplicate, each set duly signed by the appellant/petitioner.

v) Copy of the appeal/jail petition shall be served in advance on the respondent/State and also on the nominated counsel of the Legal Services Authority who is required to appear in the matter who shall file his memo of appearance.

vi) The criminal appeals/jail petitions shall be scrutinised by the Registry and if any objection is found the same be permitted to be removed by the nominated counsel of the Legal Services Authority.

vii) The criminal appeal/jail petition shall thereafter be listed before the concerned Court showing the name of advocate appearing on behalf of the legal services authority in such jail petitions/appeals.

4. Registrar General is directed to issue necessary instructions in this regard.

5. So far as the case of Prafful Kumar is concerned, as per the office report, his appeal was received in the dispatch section on 24-9-1998 and the same was misplaced in the office. Petitioner-Prafful Kumar was informed by the Dealing Assistant through the Jail Welfare Officer, who visited the Registry. He was further requested to send a duplicate copy of the appeal. The same has till date not been received. Under the circumstances, Superintendent, Central Jail, Tihar is directed to send, within two weeks, a duplicate copy of the appeal or in the alternative a fresh appeal. The same shall be deemed to have been filed on 24-9-1998 when the earlier appeal was received. The office shall put up the appeal for hearing forthwith.

6. With the above directions, this petition stands disposed of. Order dusty.

7. A copy of the order be sent to the Registrar (General) for compliance and a copy of the order be also given Dastui to Ms. Mukta Gupta for being sent to the jail authorities for compliance.