Remna Juglie (Civil Rule No. 81 of 1993); Amos Mosang (Civil Rule No. 2374 of 1993) v. State of Arunachal Pradesh and Ors.
1994-09-27
S.N.PHUKAN, V.K.KHANNA
body1994
DigiLaw.ai
S. N. Phukan, J. — Civil Rule No. 2374 of 1993 has been filed by the elder brother of detenu bhri Thikung Mosang, who was taken into custody on 15.3.93 by the Dibrugarh Police where he was going from the State of Arunachal Pradesh, his place of permanent resident, for business purpose. He was arrested in connection with Dibrugarh PS Case No. 229/93 under sections 3/4 TADA (P) Act. Thereafter he was taken to a place called Changlang on 15.4.93 and according to the writ petitioner, the detenu was kept in quarter guard at that place. It has also been stated that he was never produced before any Magistrate. He was shown arrested in GR Case No. 9/93 of Karsang PS Case No. 4993/93 under section 121-Aofthe Indian Penal Code pending before the Court of Deputy Commissioner (J) Chaaglang. Thereafter he was granted bail in that case by this Court on 15.7.93 in Criminal Original Application No. 443 of 1993. But he was not enlarged on bail as he was shown arrested in another case, namely. Jairampur PS Case No. 12/93 under section 3/4 TADA (P) Act. The grievance of the petitioner is that his brother was never produced before a competent Court and there was no proper remand order. The Civil Rule (HC) No. 81 of 1993 has been filed by Shri Remna Juglie, a permanent resident of Nampang in the State of Arunachal Pradesh. He was arrested by Arunachal Pradesh Police on 3.7.93 and was kept in the police lock up. Thereafter he was transferred to police custody at Jairampur. It has been stated that he was never produced before any Magistrate and subsequently he came to know that he was arrested in connection with ' Jairampur PS Case 12/93 registered under sections 121/121-A/386/34 IPC. He was subsequently shown arrested also in the case registered as Jairampur PS Case 12/93 under section 3/4 TADA (P) Act. Hence the present petition. 2. A counter affidavit has been filed on behalf of the respondents. Original case diary has also been produced. 3. As the matter involves interpretation of provisions of TADA (P) Act, notices were issued to all the Advocates General of the North-East. We have heard Mr. C. Baruah, learned counsel for the petitioners and Mr. NM Lahmi, Mr. SN Bhuyan and Mr. AM Majumdar, learned Advocates General of Meghalaya, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh respectively.
3. As the matter involves interpretation of provisions of TADA (P) Act, notices were issued to all the Advocates General of the North-East. We have heard Mr. C. Baruah, learned counsel for the petitioners and Mr. NM Lahmi, Mr. SN Bhuyan and Mr. AM Majumdar, learned Advocates General of Meghalaya, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh respectively. On behalf of the Union of India, we have also heard Mr. KN Choudhury and on behalf of the State of Tripura Mr. BP Kataky. 4. We may state here that by our recent order dated 30 5.94, we held that accused Thikung Mosang be set at liberty forthwith and we have been informed that it has been done. The main question in these two petitions involves interpretation of the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure and Terrorists and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act. The said provisions are quoted below : "167. Procedure when investigation cannot be completed in twenty-four hours. (1) Whenever any person is arrested and detained in custody, and it appears that the investigation cannot be completed within the period of twenty-four hours fixed by section 57, and there are grounds for believing that the accusation or information is well-founded, the Officer-in-charge of the police station or the police officer making the investigation if he is not below the rank of Sub-Inspector, shall forthwith transmit to, the nearest Judicial Magistrate a copy of the entries in the diary hereinafter prescribed relating to the case, and shall at the same time forward the accused to such Magistrate.
(2) The Magistrate to whom an accused person is forwarded under this section, may whether he has or has not jurisdiction to try the case, from time to time, authorise the detention of the accused in such custody as such Magistrate thinks fit, for a term not exceeding fifteen days in the whole; and if he has no jurisdiction to try the case or commit it for trial, and considers further detention unnecessary, he may order the accused to be forwarded to a Magistrate having such jurisdiction : Provided that- (a) the Magistrate may authorise the detention of the accused person, otherwise than in the custody of the police, beyond the period of fifteen days, if he is satisfied that adequate grounds exist for doing so, but no Magistrate shall authorise the detention of the accused person in custody under this paragraph for a total period exceeding,- (i) ninety days, where the investigation relates to an offence punishable with death, imprisonment for life or imprisonment for a term of not less than ten years; (ii) sixty days, where the investigation relates to any other offence, and on the expiry of the said period of ninety days, or sixty days, as the case may be, the accused person shall be released on bail if he is prepared to and does furnish bail, and every person released on bail under this sub-section shall be deemed to be so released under the provisions of Chapter XXXIII for the purposes of that Chapter; (b) no Magistrate shall authorise detention in any custody under this section unless the accused is produced before him; (c) no Magistrate of the Second Class, not specially empowered in this behalf by the High Court, shall authorise detention in the custody of the police." Sub-section (4) of section 20 of the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1985 runs as follows : "(4) Section 167 of the Code shall apply in relation to a case involving an offence punishable under this Act or any rule made thereunder subject to the modifications that - (a) the reference in sub-section (1) thereof to 'Judicial Magistrate' shall be construed as a reference to "Judicial Magistrate or Executive Magistrate or Special Executive Magistrate"; (b) the reference in sub-section (2) thereof to 'fifteen days', 'ninety days' and 'sixty days', wherever they occur, shall be construed as references to 'sixty days', 'one handed and eighty days' and 'one hundred and eighty days' respectively; and (bb) in sub-section (2, after the proviso, the following proviso shall be inserted, namely,- Provided further that, if it is not possible to complete the investigation within the said period of one hundred and eighty days, the Designated Court shall extend the said period upto one year, on the report of the Public Prosecutor indicating the progress of the investigation and the specific reasons for the detention of tae, accused beyond the said period of one hundred and eighty days; and.
(c) sub-section (2-A) thereof shall be deemed to, have been omitted." We may mention here that section 167 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, inter alia, provides that the FIR recorded under section 154 CrPC or any information received regarding commission of cognizable offence, such information including FIR shall be forwarded to the Magistrate empowered to take cognizance of such offence forthwith. Admittedly, any offence committed under TADA (P) Act, 1987 only Designated Court has got jurisdiction to take cognizance directly and therefore first information report or any other information received by police regarding violation of any provisions of the TADA (P) Act, it has to be sent forthwith to the Designated Court. Delay in sending such information may pose subsequent problems during trial in section 167 of the Code of Criminal Procedure as amended by section 20 of the TADA (P) Act power of remand has been given to Executive Magistrate also and the period has been extended. 5. Admittedly Executive Magistrate or Judicial Magistrate has no jurisdiction to take cognizance of an offence under TADA (P) Act. So, the only question urged before us by Mr. Baruah, learned counsel for the petitioners is that in view of provisions contained in sub-section (2) of section 167 CrPC as amended by TADA (P) Act, 1987, such remand by Executive Magistrate or Judicial Magistrate or Special Executive Magistrate can be only for the first occasion when the accused person is produced and subsequent order of remand has to be passed by the Designated Court. On this point, Mr. NM Lahiri, learned Advocate General, Maghalaya, Mr. SN Bhuyan, learned Advocate General, Assam, Mr. KN Choudhury, learned Senior Central Govt. Standing Counsel and Mr. BP Kataky, learned Government Advocate, Tripura have agreed. But Mr. AM Majumdar, learned Advocate General, Arunachal Pradesh has urged that subsequent remand order can be passed by Executive Magistrate/Judicial Magistrate/Special Executive Magistrate. In this connection, learned counsel has drawn our attention to the last following two lines of sub-section (2) of section 167 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
BP Kataky, learned Government Advocate, Tripura have agreed. But Mr. AM Majumdar, learned Advocate General, Arunachal Pradesh has urged that subsequent remand order can be passed by Executive Magistrate/Judicial Magistrate/Special Executive Magistrate. In this connection, learned counsel has drawn our attention to the last following two lines of sub-section (2) of section 167 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The said lines are : "and if he has no jurisdiction to try the case or commit it for trial, and considers further detention unnecessary, he may order the accused to be forwarded to a Magistrate having such jurisdiction.” We may state here that under sub-section (2) of section 167 CrPC, the period fixed for the remand is only 15 days, which has been increased to 60 days by the amendment made by section 20 of TADA (P) Act, 1987. Therefore, even if we accept the contention of Mr. Majumdar, learned Advocate General, Arunachal Pradesh, a Judicial Magistrate/Executive Magistrate or Special Executive Magistrate cannot pass remand orders beyond sixty days as they have no jurisdiction to try the case. Admittedly, in the present case, the period of sixty days was long over and no remand orders were passed by the Designated Court in even if we accept the statement of Mr. Majumdar, such a Magistrate cannot pass remand order beyond sixty days. We further hold that if any further detention is necessary within the limit prescribed by section 20 of TADA (P) Act, such order shall be passed only by Designated Court. An accused person charged with an offence under the provisions of TADA(P) Act, 1987, if detained beyond the period of sixty days, only on the orders of the Executive Magistrate/Judicial Magistrate or Special Executive Magistrate, such detention beyond 60 (sixty) days will be illegal detention. If the investigating machinery wants to detain such an accused person beyond the period of sixty days, order shall be obtained from the Designated Court. 6. The submission of Mr. Majumdar is thus not different from the submission of Mr. Baruah, as according to Mr. Baruah, the detention order by an Executive Magistrate/Judicial Magistrate or a Special Executive Magistrate can be passed under sub-section (2) of section 167 CrPC only for the period fixed by the amendment made by TADA (P) Act, i. e., sixty days and this view of Mr.
Baruah, as according to Mr. Baruah, the detention order by an Executive Magistrate/Judicial Magistrate or a Special Executive Magistrate can be passed under sub-section (2) of section 167 CrPC only for the period fixed by the amendment made by TADA (P) Act, i. e., sixty days and this view of Mr. Baruah, as stated above, has been accepted by the learned Advocates General of Maghalaya, Assam and learned Senior Central Government Standing Counsel and also by learned Government Advocate, Tripura Mr. BP Kataky. Situated thus, we hold as follows : The first information report or information received by police regarding commission of an offence under TADA (P) Act shall be sent forthwith to the Designated Court. We further hold that Executive Magistrate/Judicial Magistrate or Special Executive Magistrate cannot order remand of an accused person charged under TADA (P) Act beyond a period of sixty days and if further detention is necessary, order shall be obtained by investigating agency from the Designated Court. The Designated Court cannot remand an accused person either to the police custody or judicial custody beyond the period fixed by amending section 167 of the Code of Criminal Procedure by TADA (P) Act, 1987. 7. Mr. Majumdar has drawn our attention that provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure and Code of Civil Procedure do not apply in case of trial of cases in the State of Arunachal Pradesh in view of the provisions of the Assam Frontier (Administration of Justice) Regulation, 1945 and only spirit of these two laws are to be followed. There is no dispute that TADA (P) Act is in force. Therefore, section 20 of TADA Act has to be only complied with and, in other words, the period of detention during investigation under section 167 CrPC cannot exceed the period fixed by TAD A (P) Act. 8. Regarding the facts of the case, as persons were taken into custody long before, they might have been released by this time and, if not, proper bail application may be filed before the Designated Court and the Designated Court shall ensure whether any remand order has been passed by any Executive Magistrate/Judicial Magistrate or Special Executive Magistrate beyond a period of sixty days and thereafter dispose of the bail application in accordance with law and what has been stated in the judgment. Both the petitions are accordingly disposed of. No costs.