WHETHER THE FOLLOWING DIRECTIONS ARE BEING FOLLOWED IN YOUR COURTS? Head Note:- Constitution of India, 1950 – Article 21 - Indian Penal Code, 1860 – Section – 324 - Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 - Chapter VI - Processes to compel appearance - Warrant of arrest – Courts have to be extra-cautious and careful while directing issue of non-bailable warrant, else a wrongful detention would amount to denial of constitutional mandate envisaged in Article 21 of the Constitution of India - The power has to be exercised judiciously and not arbitrarily, having regard, inter-alia, to the nature and seriousness of the offence involved; the past conduct of the accused, his age and the possibility of his absconding. Constitution of India, 1950 - Articles 21, 22(1), 32 and 226 - Administration of Justice - Criminal Justice - Execution of warrants to compel appearance in court - Compensation - The power and jurisdiction of Supreme Court and High Courts to grant monetary compensation in exercise of its jurisdiction respectively under Articles 32 and 226 of the Constitution to a victim whose fundamental rights under Article 21 of the Constitution are violated are well-established. Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 – Section 70, 71 and 476 r/w Second Schedule, Form-2 - Processes to compel appearance in court - Issuance of a warrant with endorsement "non-bailable" - Though no such terminology is found in the Code or Form-2, nevertheless, the endorsement of the expression "non- bailable" on a warrant is to facilitate the executing authority as well as the person against whom the warrant is sought to be executed to make them aware as to the nature of the warrant that has been issued - Merely because the warrant uses the expression "non-bailable", that by itself cannot render the warrant bad in law. Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 – Section 70, 71 and 476 r/w Second Schedule, Form-2 - Processes to compel appearance in court - Issuance of a warrant with endorsement "non-bailable" - In order to check or obviate the possibility of misuse of an arrest warrant, in addition to the statutory and constitutional requirements, guidelines laid down to be adopted in all cases where non-bailable warrants are issued by the courts. Held:- (a) All the High Court shall ensure that the Subordinate Courts use printed and machine numbered Form No.2 for issuing warrant of arrest and each such form is duly accounted for; (b) Before authenticating, the court must ensure that complete particulars of the case are mentioned on the warrant; (c) The presiding Judge of the court (or responsible officer specially authorized for the purpose in case of High Courts) issuing the warrant should put his full and legible signatures on the process, also ensuring that Court seal bearing complete particulars of the Court is prominently endorsed thereon; (d) The Court must ensure that warrant is directed to a particular police officer (or authority) and, unless intended to be open-ended, it must be returnable whether executed or unexecuted, on or before the date specified therein; (e) Every Court must maintain a register (in the format given below), in which each warrant of arrest issued must be entered chronologically and the serial number of such entry reflected on the top right hand of the process; (f) No warrant of arrest shall be issued without being entered in the register mentioned above and the concerned court shall periodically check/monitor the same to confirm that every such process is always returned to the court with due report and placed on the record of the concerned case; (g) A register similar to the one in clause (e) supra shall be maintained at the concerned police station. The Station House Officer of the concerned Police Station shall ensure that each warrant of arrest issued by the Court, when received is duly entered in the said register and is formally entrusted to a responsible officer for execution; (h) Ordinarily, the Courts should not give a long time for return or execution of warrants, as experience has shown that warrants are prone to misuse if they remain in control of executing agencies for long; (i) On the date fixed for the return of the warrant, the Court must insist upon a compliance report on the action taken thereon by the Station House Officer of the concerned Police Station or the Officer In-charge of the concerned agency; (j) The report on such warrants must be clear, cogent and legible and duly forwarded by a superior police officer, so as to facilitate fixing of responsibility in case of misuse; (k) In the event of warrant for execution beyond jurisdiction of the Court issuing it, procedure laid down in Sections 78 and 79 of the Code must be strictly and scrupulously followed; and (l) In the event of cancellation of the arrest warrant by the Court, the order cancelling warrant shall be recorded in the case file and the register maintained. A copy thereof shall be sent to the concerned authority, requiring the process to be returned unexecuted forthwith. The date of receipt of the unexecuted warrant will be entered in the aforesaid registers. A copy of such order shall also be supplied to the accused. SEPTEMBER 9, 2011 CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 1758 OF 2011 (Arising out of S.L.P. (Crl.) No.5412 of 2008) From the Judgment & Order dated 26.11.2007 of the High Court of Bombay in Cr. W.P. No. 1086 of 2002. RAGHUVANSH DEWANCHAND BHASIN — APPELLANT VERSUS STATE OF MAHARASHTRA & ANR. — RESPONDENTS
Posted on: Sat, 31 Aug 2013 02:59:30 +0000
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