Failure to comply with procedural requirements under Section 41-A of Cr.P.C. during arrest was ruled as a violation of personal liberty and contempt of court.

ORDER

PRAVEER BHATNAGAR, J.

1. The petitioner has filed the present contempt petition against respondent No.1 alleging willful disobedience of the directions issued by the Hon’ble Apex Court in the case of Arnesh Kumar v. State of Bihar, (2014) 8 SCC 273 : 2014 5 Supreme 324 and has prayed for initiation of strict punitive proceedings.

2. The petitioner is aggrieved by his arrest dated 01.02.2023 in FIR No.346/2021, registered on 14.09.2021 at Police Station Anti Corruption Bureau, Jaipur, for offences under Sections 7 and 7-A of the Prevention of Corruption (Amended) Act, 2018 and Section 120-B Indian Penal Code, 1860.

3. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that a notice dated 25.01.2023 was served upon the petitioner through WhatsApp by the Investigating Officer, to which the petitioner immediately responded, requesting reasonable time to appear in view of the illness of his wife.

3.1. It is further contended that the WhatsApp communication reflected that the Investigating Officer intended to proceed under Section 41-A Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (in short, ‘Cr.P.C’) and had no immediate intention to arrest. However, despite such communication and without proper service of notice in accordance with law, the petitioner was arrested on 01.02.2023 without assigning any valid and recorded reasons. It is submitted that the aforesaid action of the respondents is contrary to the statutory scheme governing the procedure of arrest and amounts to a clear violation of the safeguards intended to protect personal liberty. In this regard, reliance has been placed upon the judgments passed in the matter of Arnesh Kumar v. State of Bihar, (2014) 8 SCC 273; Satender Kumar Antil v. CBI & Anr., (2022) 10 SCC 51; Rakesh Kumar v. Vijayanta Arya, 2021 SCC OnLine Del 5629; Venugopal Nandlal Dhoot v. CBI, 2023 SCC OnLine Bom 161 and Mohd. Zubair v. State (NCT Delhi), 2022 SCC OnLine SC 897.

3.2. Subsequent to the arrest, the petitioner preferred a bail application before the learned Court below, which was dismissed vide order dated 10.02.2023 and thereafter, the petitioner approached this Court by filing Bail Application No. 2292/2023, which came to be allowed vide order dated 05.04.2023, thereby enlarging the petitioner on bail.

3.3. It is also submitted that charge-sheet No. 355/2021 was filed on 09.11.2022 and that the material placed on record does not disclose any cogent reasons necessitating the arrest of the petitioner and the arrest memo and checklist do not reflect independent application of mind as mandated by law.

3.4. In view of the aforesaid submissions, it is prayed that the arrest of the petitioner stands in violation of the mandate of Section 41-A of Cr.P.C. and the law laid down by the Hon’ble Supreme Court and consequently, appropriate proceedings under the Contempt of Courts Act be initiated against the respondent for willful disobedience of the binding directions.

4. Per contra, learned counsel for the respondents has justified the action of Respondent No.1 and submitted that the petitioner did not challenge the arrest before the concerned Magistrate at the time of his production nor did he assailed the same before any competent Court. The petitioner was arrested under the provisions of Section 41(1)(b) of Cr.P.C., after preparation of the statutory checklist and recording of reasons, which are reflected in the arrest memo dated 01.02.2023. In this regard, reliance has been placed upon judgment passed by the Gujarat High Court, in the matter of Krinaben W/o Tushar Suryakant Trivedi v. N.P. Garasiya, Police Sub-Inspector, Special Investigation Team R/Misc. Civil Application No.1009/2023 decided on 08.09.2023.

4.1. Furthermore, notice dated 25.01.2023 was issued to the petitioner and upon his non-compliance and evasive conduct, arrest was necessitated. It is further contended that the petitioner had earlier approached this Court by way of S.B. Criminal Misc. Petition No. 06/2022 filed under Section 482 Cr.P.C. (now, Section 528