C.W.P. No.10364 of 2009 -1-
IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH
C.W.P. No.10364 of 2009 (O&M)
Date of decision:15.07.2009.
Chetan Gupta ...Petitioner
Versus
State of Punjab and others ...Respondents
CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE JASBIR SINGH
Present: Mr. Rajiv Atma Ram, Senior Advocate, with
Mr. Daman Dhir, Advocate, for the petitioner.
*****
JASBIR SINGH, J.
By filing this writ petition, petitioner prays that a writ of
mandamus be issued to the respondents to issue the petitioner, 10 days
advance notice, in case the respondents wish to arrest him, in a case likely
to be registered against him in the State of Punjab by any wing of the
Punjab Police.
Admittedly, the petitioner is an accused in FIR No.5 of 2007,
registered in Police Station Vigilance Bureau at Ludhiana. In that case, he
is on regular bail. He is also an accused in FIR No.28 of 2008. After
registration of the above said case, he came to this Court, asking for
anticipatory bail, his application bearing Criminal Misc. No.M-18152 of
2008, was disposed of on 24.07.2008 (P-9). It was observed as under: –
“Ms. Rita Kohli, learned Additional Advocate General
appearing for the State of Punjab, at the very out-set has
made a statement that the petitioner is not required by the
investigating agency at this stage.
In view of the statement made above by the learned
State counsel, learned Senior Advocate appearing for the
C.W.P. No.10364 of 2009 -2-petitioner submits that he does not press this petition at this
stage and prays that the same may be dismissed as
withdrawn.
Dismissed as withdrawn. However, it is made clear that
in case the investigating agency requires the petitioner, then in
that eventuality, before arresting him, four days’ notice in
writing well in advance be served upon him. It is also made
clear that the petitioner shall cooperate with the Investigating
Agency as and when called upon to do so.”
It is an admitted fact that about one year has elapsed when
that order was passed, the respondents have not initiated any criminal
action in the meantime against the petitioner. Now the petitioner has been
asked to put in appearance, for investigation in the above said FIR, before
S.S.P., Vigilance Bureau at Patiala on 17.07.2009. (Copy of the notice has
been put on record during the course of arguments.)
An averment has been made by the counsel for the petitioner
that the petitioner apprehends that on his appearance at Patiala, he is
going to be arrested by registering some false case by the respondents
without any justification. Long history of the earlier cases, registered
against the petitioner and how he was arrested and tortured etc. has been
given.
In this writ petition, following prayer has been made by the
petitioner: –
“issue a writ of mandamus or any direction or order directing
the respondents to issue ten days notice before arresting them
in any case to be registered against them any where in the
State of Punjab and by the State of Punjab/the Punjab
Vigilance Bureau/Punjab Police or any other State
instrumentality or State agency under the control and
C.W.P. No.10364 of 2009 -3-directions of the State Government.”
To claim above said relief, facts are mentioned in para Nos.6,
27(i), 27(vii), 27(xi) and 27(xviii) of this writ petition. These paragraphs
reads thus: –
“6. Unfortunately however, the petitioner who lives in Delhi
with his wife, minor son and ailing aged mother and has
undergone such excruciating mental and physical torture has
once again been made the target of the evil designs of the
current government and their agencies. Over the past few
days the petitioner has been receiving threatening calls from
unknown numbers threatening him that he dare not step into
Punjab or he would get arrested in some new case. It is
submitted that even though to the best of the petitioners
knowledge no other case is pending against him, yet he is
mortally scared of being picked up, arrested and tortured in
some vague and false case, since the respondents have
obviously got no qualms of misusing the powers entrusted to
them to ensure that they succeed in their evil designs.
27(i) That the petitioner is directly approaching this Hon’ble
Court as the alleged FIR can be registered against him any
where in the State of Punjab. The petitioner himself cannot
point out any particular station/district where he would be
implicated in a criminal case. His apprehension is bonafide
and genuine and is well established on the basis of the facts
narrated and perusal of the news reports. The manner in
which the investigating agency namely the Vigilance Bureau is
going out of its way by involving wholly unconnected people in
series of cases like Ludhiana City Centre, Disproportionate
Asset’s case against the petitioner, former DGP and the
C.W.P. No.10364 of 2009 -4-former Chief Minister are few examples. The strategy is to
arrest the person on a false pretest to subject him to third
degree treatment and extract confessions and plant recoveries
to show achievement in a drive which has so far made no
headway. The Vigilance Bureau and the present Chief
Minister are leaving no stone unturned with a view to falsely
implicate the petitioner in a criminal case and arrest him.
27(vii). That during his custodial interrogation, the
petitioner was interrogated by the officers of the Vigilance
Bureau, Punjab in the premises of Police Station Sadar,
Ludhiana and was stripped to his underclothing and was
humiliated and tortured during the course of the period of
Police Custody of 7 days. The petitioner was not just slapped
or physically assaulted, but was made to undergo third degree
torture with the vigilance persons giving him electric shocks all
over his body.
27(xi). For that the petitioner cannot be expected to live
in the constant fear of being arrested at the States wish for
alleged offences he does not even have an iota of idea about.
It is submitted that the petitioner has no means of knowing the
extent of malicious and vexatious designs of the respondents
and until and unless he is given the protection as prayed for in
the present petition he would be living in constant fear of the
atrocities of the respondents. It has been authoritatively held
by the Constitution Bench of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in
Sibbia’s case that the petitioner under the threat of abuse of
State power cannot be expected to draw up his petition as
meticulously as in a civil case. It shall be a travesty of justice
if the petitioner has to rely upon the documents or material
C.W.P. No.10364 of 2009 -5-which cannot possibly be in his possession, before
approaching the Court. As per the prescribed procedure, a
petitioner has no means to know as to what enquiries are
going on against him or whether any material is being quoted
and kept under the wraps with the objective of promptly
registering the case at the opportune moment. The petitioner
can only express his apprehension from surrounding
circumstances e.g. the political bias against him, the secret
and systematic leaks by the Investigating Agency, the
circumstances showing that Capt. Amarinder Singh and the
people close to him are being singlled out for persecution and
the reports in the media giving indications of on going
enquiries or informal local investigation or plans to implicate
him in one or the other case. Therefore, from the very nature
of things, a petitioner cannot be expected to place before the
courts, strictly legal evidence about a case likely to be
registered against him.”
27(xviii). That the petitioner is apprehending his arrest
regarding the alleged offences, which are non-bailable
because of the political vendetta to torture, humiliate publicly
and to tarnish his image whereas the nature and gravity of the
alleged allegations are not serious to deny the anticipatory bail
particularly when false and concocted cases are being
manufactured due to political vendetta. The petitioner is a
respectable law abiding citizen and could not in any manner
misuse the concession of bail by tampering or pressurizing the
witnesses. It is respectfully submitted that even recently while
proceedings have been pending before this Hon’ble Court, the
respondents are in the process of fabricating new and false
C.W.P. No.10364 of 2009 -6-cases against the petitioner.”
This Court feels that the apprehension raised by the petitioner
has no justification. In paragraph No.6 of this writ petition, it has been
stated that the petitioner is likely to made target on account of evil designs
of the current government and their agencies. It has further been stated
that the petitioner has been receiving threatening calls from unknown
persons stating that he dare not step into Punjab, else he will be arrested
in some new false case.
When calls were made, from which numbers calls have been
made, who made those calls, who received, at what time/date, nothing has
been stated to substantiate the contention. Even number on which these
calls were received has not been mentioned in this paragraph.
In paragraph Nos.27(i), 27(vii), 27(xi) and 27(xviii), it has only
been stated that a false FIR is likely to be registered against the petitioner,
any where in the State of Punjab. The petitioner is not in a position to
indicate the Police Station. To strengthen apprehension of the petitioner
that he is going to be arrested, it has been stated that earlier also he was
arrested in a false criminal case and was tortured. It was further
mentioned that the Vigilance Bureau and the present Chief Minister are
leaving no stone unturned to falsely implicate the petitioner in a criminal
case.
This Court feels that there is no foundation to satisfy above
apprehension. Petitioner is an accused in FIR No.5 of 2007, in which he
was enlarged on regular bail. In FIR No.28 of 2008, he was granted relief
by this Court, vide order dated 24.07.2008, that before his arrest 4 days’
advance notice be given to him. About one year has elapsed, no attempt
has been made by the authorities to register any case against the
petitioner. In these paragraphs, only treatment meted out to him in the
past has been detailed. It has further been stated that the petitioner
C.W.P. No.10364 of 2009 -7-
cannot live continuously under threat and on account of facts mentioned in
those paragraphs, he is entitled to get the blanket bail as has been prayed
in this writ petition.
In view of above mentioned facts, this Court feels that so far
as grant of blanket bail to the petitioner is concerned, he is not able to
make out any case. Otherwise also, the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Union
of India Vs. Padam Narain Aggarwal etc., AIR 2008 Supreme Court
254, have specifically stated that it is not justified to grant blanket bail to an
applicant except in exceptional cases. This Court feels that no exceptional
case is made out. Petitioner has been summoned to participate in the
pending investigation on 17.07.2009, vide notice dated 09.07.2009, in FIR
No.28 of 2008. Apprehension of the petitioner that he will be arrested is
not justified because when that FIR was registered, he came to this Court
and at his instance, order dated 27.07.2008 (P-9) was passed, granting
him protection from sudden arrest.
In view of above, no case is made out to grant relief to the
petitioner as prayed.
Dismissed.
July 15, 2009. ( JASBIR SINGH ) vinod JUDGE