Narinder Singh Narang & Anr. vs State
2019 Latest Caselaw 5602 Del

*       IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

                               Judgment reserved on: 06.11.2019
%                             Judgment delivered on: 14.11.2019

+       W.P.(CRL) 3085/2019

        NARINDER SINGH NARANG & ANR                ..... Petitioners

                          Through      Mr. Gurmeet Singh, Adv.
                                       with Ms. Vidushi Jain Adv
                                       for petitioners along with
                                       petitioners Narinder
                                       Singh Narang and
                                       Ravinder Kaur Narang
                                       in person
                          versus

        STATE                                      ..... Respondent

                          Through      Ms. Richa Kapoor, ASC with
                                       Ms. Shivani Sharma and Ms.
                                       Saloni Jain, Advocates.
                                       Insp. Ravinder Pandit PS
                                       C.R.Park

        CORAM:
        HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE BRIJESH SETHI

                          JUDGMENT

BRIJESH SETHI, J.

1. Vide this Judgment, I shall dispose of a petition filed under

Article 226 of the Constitution of India read with Section 482

Cr.P.C. against impugned order dated 18.10.2019 passed by Ld.

M.M. Sh.Harun Pratap, Saket Courts, South-East District, New

Delhi in the application for release of passport and permission to go

abroad in FIR No. 87/2017 PS Chitranjan Park.

2. While praying for release of passport and permission to go

abroad, the petitioners have pleaded that they were enlarged on bail

vide order dated 26.04.2019 passed by Ld. M.M. Harun Pratap,

Saket Courts, South East District, New Delhi subject to certain

conditions and one of the condition was that the petitioners shall not

leave the country without taking prior permission of the court and

they will surrender their passports as per the undertaking given on

their behalf by their counsel.

3. It is further submitted that petitioner Sh. Narinder Singh

Narang and Smt Ravinder Kaur Narang are 69 years and 68 years

old respectively and have always been inclined towards religious

activities and are firm followers of Sikh religion. It is further

submitted that from 06.11.2019 to 15.11.2019, there shall be a grand

Kirtan organized in Lahore city of Pakistan by the Sikh community

and said Kirtan is being organized after a gap of 100 years. It was

last organized in the year 1919 and it invokes a lot of religious

sentiments among the followers.

4. It is further submitted that it was one of condition of the bail

that petitioners shall not leave the country without taking prior

permission of the Hon'ble Court, and therefore, the petitioners

moved an application under Section 437(3) Cr.P.C. before Ld. MM

Sh. Harun Pratap, Saket Courts, South-East District, New Delhi for

modification/alteration of order dated 26.04.2019 seeking

permission from the Hon'ble Court so that the petitioners may be

allowed to attend the said Kirtan in Lahore Pakistan. However, the

same was withdrawn as it was advised that proper remedy will be to

file an application before Ld. Sessions Court for the release of

passports and permission to travel abroad. Thereafter, an

application was filed before the Ld. ASJ. The Ld. ASJ, however,

granted liberty to the petitioners to move similar application before

the Ld. MM. Thereafter, an application was filed before the Ld.

MM for release of passports and permission to visit abroad. Ld.

MM, however, issued notice to the complainant despite the

objection of the petitioners that no notice ought to have been issued

to the complainant. He had also fixed the date for 01.11.2019.

Subsequently, a Writ Petition bearing no. 2826/2019 was filed

before this Hon'ble Court and this court had preponed the date of

hearing to 15.10.2019 and directed the Ld. MM to decide the

application as expeditiously as possible. It is further submitted that

the Ld. MM has, however, dismissed the application vide order

dated 17.10.2019.

5. It is further submitted that submissions were made before the

Ld. MM that petitioners may be allowed to go Pakistan only and

order be sent to Ministry of External Affairs and Immigration

Department so that petitioners would not be able to fly anywhere

else. However, no heed was paid to the said request. Ld. MM has

passed the impugned order in haste, disregarded the principles of

natural justice and in a biased manner. The order passed by Ld. MM

is perverse. It is further submitted that petitioners are not going to

flee from the process of law and therefore, it is prayed that in the

interest of justice, the order dated 18.10.2019 be set aside and

passports of the petitioners be released and they be allowed to visit

Pakistan to attend religious ceremony from 06.11.2019 to

15.11.2019.

6. Ld. Counsel for the petitioner has relied upon a case titled

'Subash vs. State, Crl. R.C. no. 111 of 2019, decided on

01/02/2019' wherein Hon'ble High Court of Madras has held that

the order regarding condition to surrender the petitioner's passport

before the court was illegal.

7. Ld. APP for the state has opposed the petition and has also

submitted that the petitioners are not stating true facts. They were

never asked to surrender their passport but they had themselves

willingly offered to surrender their passports at the time of grant of

bail and it was on their submission that their passports were kept on

record. Ld. APP has further submitted that allegations against the

petitioners are very serious in nature. They have committed

cheating as well as forgery not only with HDFC Bank and Punjab

and Sindh Bank but also cheated the complainant for a huge

amount. They had not joined the investigation and were declared

PO on 15.03.2018. They were later on arrested after about one year

i.e. on 24.03.2019. The son and daughter-in-law of the petitioners,

who are also accused persons in this case, are also not joining the

investigation and NBWs have been issued against them. The

petitioners are also not residing at the given address. An application

for cancellation of bail of petitioners has also been filed by the

complainant and the same is pending for disposal. The petitioners

have obtained US Visa when they were declared PO. It is submitted

that there is an apprehension that they will misuse the permission

and will not return and in these circumstances, they should not be

permitted to leave the country.

8. I have considered the rival submissions and gone through the

entire record.

9. As per bail order dated 26.04.2019, the petitioners had

themselves given an undertaking that they will surrender their

passports and it was not directed by the court as submitted by the

petitioners. Ld. Counsel for the petitioners has now argued that

passports should not have been retained by the Ld. Trial Court. In

view of the case law titled "Subash Vs. State"(Supra), Ld. Counsel

for the petitioners can certainly move the court concerned for release

of passport which will be disposed of by the Ld. Court in

accordance with law.

10. So far as permission to go abroad is concerned, perusal of

record reveals that petitioners are involved in the offence of cheating

and FIR under Section 420/120-B IPC has been registered against

them on the complaint of one Sachin Jain. According to Ld. ASC,

both the petitioners have fraudulently taken loan of Rs. 35 lacs and

Rs. 55 Lacs from HDFC Bank and Punjab & Sind Bank respectively

against the property bearing no. S-210, First Floor, GK-II, New

Delhi by concealing the facts. Thereafter, they sold this floor to M/s

BDR Builders Pvt. Ltd. and again stood witness in the sale deed

executed by BDR Builders Pvt. Ltd. in favour of complainant and

his wife Ms. Renu Jain. Complainant Sachin Jain had given this

floor to the petitioners on lease vide lease deed dt. 29.07.2015 but

they handed over the possession of the half back portion of the said

property to HDFC Bank without the knowledge or consultation of

the complainant. Further they again entered into an agreement to

sell with a Builder of the locality Sh. Subash Arora and had taken

advance from him. Apart from the above allegations of cheating

and fraud committed by the petitioners as mentioned above, this fact

also cannot be ignored that both the petitioners had evaded the

process of law and were declared absconders by the concerned court

vide order dated 15.03.2018. Later on they were apprehended on

24.03.2019 u/s 41.1(C) CrPC. Moreover both the petitioners have

no permanent address in Delhi or in India. They are stated to be

residing at JG-1/125, Vikaspuri, New Delhi which is a rented

accommodation but the same is found locked whenever the police

has visited the said house. In view of above discussion, nature of

allegations levelled against the petitioners, their conduct of evading

process of law and their arrest after about one year of their being

declared proclaimed offenders and obtaining of US Visa by them

during the period when they were declared proclaimed offenders

and further in view of the fact that son and daughter-in-law of the

petitioners are also not joining the investigation and NBWs have

been issued against them, no grounds for grant of permission, as

prayed, are made out. The petition is, therefore, dismissed.

BRIJESH SETHI, J NOVEMBER 14, 2019 AK