Amarjeet Kaur vs State
2014 Latest Caselaw 1208 Del

$~1
*     IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
+     CRL.A. 306/1999
      AMARJEET KAUR
                                         ..... Appellant
                      Through: None.


                         versus

      STATE
                                                               ..... Respondent
                         Through:        Mr. Rajesh Mahajan, Additional
                                         Standing Counsel (Cri.) for State with
                                         Mr.Harendra K.Singh, Deputy
                                         Commissioner of Police, Police
                                         Headquarters, Delhi


      CORAM:
      HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE KAILASH GAMBHIR
      HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE SUNITA GUPTA
                        ORDER

% 06.03.2014

Fresh affidavit has been filed by Mr. Harendra K. Singh, Deputy

Commissioner of Police, Police Headquarters, New Delhi. Mr. Harendra

K.Singh, DCP is also present in court.

Mr. Rajesh Mahajan, Additional Standing Counsel (Cri.) for State

submits that so far the previous list of 365 life convicts is concerned,

majority of the appellants of these appeals were personally informed in writing about the listing of their appeals before the various Division Benches

of this court. Learned Additional Standing Counsel (Crl.) further submits

that there are few cases where the concerned SHOs could not establish any

personal contact with the concerned appellants, but information in such

cases was given either to their family members or to their relatives. Learned

Additional Standing Counsel (Crl.) further submits that in majority of the

cases, the appellants have been contacted personally. Learned Additional

Standing Counsel (Crl.) further submits that in the said list of 365 life

convicts, list of 27 life convicts was furnished by the State informing the

court about their demise during the pendency of their appeals, but after

carrying out further verification, it has been informed that in fact, only 24

life convicts have expired and not 27.

Learned Additional Standing Counsel (Crl.) has drawn attention to

paragraph 6 of the present affidavit wherein it is stated that the name of life

convict - Subhash, son of Bishan Singh, (Crl. A. No. 646/2000), Police

Station Ambedkar Nagar has been wrongly mentioned in place of life

convict Sultan, son of Narain who expired on 11.1.2010 in Crl. A. No.

646/2000, Police Station Ambedkar Nagar.

Learned Additional Standing Counsel (Crl.) further submits that it is only life convict Sultan who had expired but due to inadvertence, name of

life convict Subhash was mentioned in the earlier list.

Similarly, learned Additional Standing Counsel (Crl.) submits that

the name of life convict Baldev, son of Joginder was mentioned two times in

the said list at S.No. 26 and 27, while the correct criminal appeal was Crl. A.

No. 104/2005, arising out of FIR No. 288/1999 Police Station New Delhi

Railway Station and Baldev had expired on 2.7.2010. Learned Additional

Standing Counsel (Crl.) further submits that the life convict mentioned at

S.No.7 in the earlier list - one Surender resident of RZ-881, Gali No.27-C,

Palam Colony, Delhi has been wrongly shown to have expired but later it

was found that his name was wrongly mentioned due to inadvertence based

on the incorrect information given by the concerned SHO to the DCP (West

District), and in fact that life convicts Surender is alive. Learned Additional

Standing Counsel (Crl.) also submits that the explanation notice have

already been issued to Prabhu Dayal, the then SHO Police Station Maya Puri

and Sub-Inspector Yogesh Kumar, Investigating Officer of the said case for

their lapses.

Learned Additional Standing Counsel (Crl.) further submits that the

name of life convicts Jagan Nath son of Chaman Lal, who had filed Crl. A. No. 787/2000 Police Station D.B.G.Road was also wrongly shown in the list

of the said 27 life convicts to have expired but later, it was found that the

said life convict Jagan Nath is still alive, while in fact his father who had

filed Crl. A. No. 771/2000 had died on 9.10.2011.

Learned Additional Standing Counsel (Crl.) also submits that the life

convict - Jagan Nath has already been informed in writing and even on

personal level about listing of his appeal before this court. Learned

Additional Standing Counsel (Crl.) also submits that so far as the appeal

filed by Chaman Lal is concerned, his name is also required to be added in

the list of 27 cases, and therefore, in place of appeal of Jagan Nath (Crl. A.

No. 787/2000), name of Chaman Lal (Crl. A. No. 771/2000) should have

been there in the said list of 27 life convicts, who have already expired.

Learned Additional Standing Counsel (Crl.) further submits that so far

as these four appeals are concerned, the same have yet not been disposed of

and therefore, the list of these 24 life convicts which has been annexed

alongwith the present affidavit as Annexure R-II be accepted as the correct

list of the life convicts, out of the list of 365, who had expired.

Learned Additional Standing Counsel (Crl.) further submits that the

concerned SHOs of the Police Stations are further carrying out the exercise of establishing personal contact with the life convicts and in the fresh

exercise, police has now been able to establish contacts with 528 life

convicts. Learned Additional Standing Counsel (Crl.) further submits that

during this exercise, it was also found that 22 life convicts, as per the list

annexed as Annexure IV to this affidavit have died. Learned Additional

Standing Counsel (Crl.) further submits that the necessary verifications

about these appellants have already been done to the satisfaction of the

concerned SHOs and Additional SHOs. Learned Additional Standing

Counsel (Crl.) also submits that with regard to these 22 life convicts

(Annexure R-IV), their appeals which are listed before the respective

Division Benches can be taken up for consideration or to pass necessary

orders.

Let the Registry carry out this exercise of listing the said 22 appeals

forming part of the Annexure R-IV before the respective Division Benches

so that respective Division Benches can pass appropriate orders in those

appeals. It is also directed that on the date of listing of these appeals, the

concerned SHOs, Additional SHOs of respective Police Stations shall

remain personally present in court so as to confirm the factum of death of all

these 22 life convicts.

During the course of hearing of the present appeal and after having

gone through the list of life convicts who are personally being contacted by

the police, to our surprise, we have found that in some cases the police has

not been able to establish personal contact with the life convicts, rather they

have just given an information to their family members or their relatives. No

doubt, the police is taking serious pain in carrying out the said exercise of

establishing personal contact with all these life convicts whose appeals are

pending consideration before the respective Division Benches, but mere fact

that the family members or relatives of such life convicts have been

informed, will not serve the purpose, as the apprehension is that at the time

of hearing of their appeals, these appellants in all likelihood will not appear

and then again, fresh exercise will be required to be undertaken by the

respective courts. We therefore, direct the State to make all endeavours to

establish personal contact with the life convicts and take in writing that they

shall be appearing before the Division Benches at the time of listing of their

appeals and also the police to take in writing from all such convicts that they

will not leave their present place of residence without first informing the

concerned SHO of the Police Station. The police shall also try to obtain

some document with regard to the proof of their residence. Police is also directed to carry out further exercise of establishing contact with the

remaining life convicts.

Fresh status report be filed by the State on or before the next date.

List on 28th April 2014.

KAILASH GAMBHIR, J

SUNITA GUPTA, J MARCH 06, 2014 pkb