PUNJAB & HARYANA HIGH COURT
Jagjit Singh @ Jaggi
Vs.
State of Punjab
CRM-M-8721-2019
CORAM: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE GURBIR SINGH
FACT:
This is a petition under Section 482 Cr.P.C. for quashing the order dated 09.02.2018 (Annexure P-8), whereby the petitioner has been ordered to be declared absconder and all subsequent proceedings initiated under Section 174-A IPC. It was claimed that a notice was affixed on the accused person’s house wall and another notice was displayed prominently at a corner in the neighborhood’s street bend. However, the reality is that no such notice was actually affixed on the house wall or any noticeable location. The petitioner sought anticipatory bail and was granted temporary bail. The petitioner is consistently attending court hearings.
COURT ANALYSIS AND DECISION:
According to Section 82(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code, a court must issue a written proclamation directing the individual in question to appear at a specified location and time, with at least thirty days’ notice from the proclamation’s publication date. In this specific instance, the proclamation order is dated 22.05.2017. This proclamation was sent to the relevant Station House Officer on 02.06.2017 (Attachment P-7), requiring the petitioner’s appearance in court by 13.06.2017. The publication was executed on 12.06.2017. However, neither proclamation was openly announced in a noticeable location within Amargarh, nor was the petitioner given the required 30-day period to appear in court. Consequently, the order of 09.02.2018, which declared the petitioner as an absconder, contradicts the provisions outlined in Section 82 of the Criminal Procedure Code. As this order was in violation of statutory regulations, it was nullified.
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Written by- Srijan Garg
