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2018 Supreme(Ori) 741
IN THE HIGH COURT OF ORISSA
C.R. DASH, J.
CRLMP No.1115 of 2018
Decided on 14th November, 2018.
Debi Prasad Pattnaik … Petitioner
Versus
State of Orissa and Others … Opp. Parties
For Petitioner:M/s. Soura Ch. Mohapatra, D. Panda, D. Mohapatra, S. Mahanty and G. Mishra, Advocates.
For Opp. Parties :Mr. Soubhagya Ketan Nayak, Addl. Govt. Advocate and Mr. Tapas Ku. Praharaj, Addl. Standing Counsel.
Headnote:1. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE CODE, 1973 - Sec. 482 - Prayer to give effect to the compromise reached in the meeting of all stakeholders in the larger public interest - Respective parties apologised for different incidents - Based on the cardinal principles on which the meeting was held i.e. (i) Preservation of the dignity of the Lawyers as a community, and (ii) Preservation of the moral of the Force, and
- In the larger public interest and for the benefit of the litigant public who are yearning for the protection of their rights, to give judicial stamp to the composition reached, the Hon’ble Court invoked plenary powers under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, to ordain the composition reached on 11.11.2018, by judicial clothing - Taking into consideration the larger interest of the public and especially the interest of the litigants, the F.I.Rs. in all the cases are quashed and consequential administrative proceeding initiated against the alleged erring police personnels are directed to be dropped by the competent authority in the administrative side.
2. CONSTITUTION OF INDIA, 1950 - Art. 226 - Extra-ordinary remedy - Extra-ordinary situation needs extra-ordinary approach - Hon’ble Court invoked suo-motu jurisdiction to quash F.I.Rs. lodged in an extra-ordinary background.
3. ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE - Request for taking measures to avoid strike on prima-facie picture of a particular incident, without applying wisdom on the entire issue - Government is directed to constitute a committee under the Chairmanship of a retired High Court judge of the choice of the Government within 7 (seven) days from today - The Additional Chief Secretary to Government in Home Department shall be the Member Secretary of the said committee and other official members shall be (1) Secretary to Government in Law Department, (2) D.G. of police, (3) I.G. of Police (Headquarters) and (4) Commissioner of Police, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack - Further the President and Secretary of the Orissa High Court Bar Association in their official capacity shall be the Ex-officio members of the committee - Besides them, 3 (three) advocates selected by the Executive Body of the Orissa High Court Bar Association shall be the members of the Committee, out of whom 2 (two) members must be recognized Senior Advocates with minimum 35/40 years of practice experience, who in my view, have seen transition of law, lawyers and lawyering - No Advocate member of the proposed committee should be a member of any political party - The Committee should be constituted within 7 (seven) days from the date of receipt of this order, and they shall give their report within 2 (two) months of their first meeting - The non-official members of the committee shall be given T.A. and D.A. at the rate applicable to the learned Advocate General for each day’s sitting - The recommendation of the committee shall be scrutinized judicially after it is received with the assistance and submissions by Members of the Bar, who may volunteer to submit before the Court in the matter, it is reiterated here that, the Committee shall suggest ways and means and modalities for checking recurrence of such incident in future.
4. WORDS AND PHRASES - Expression of ‘sorry’ and tendering apology before the Court - Meaning of - Hon’ble Court in the circumstance has observed that the saying ‘sorry’ in magnanimity of the parties and shall not be treated as ‘admission’ in any subsequent legal proceeding.
JUDGMENT
C.R. DASH, J. - It was about 4.30 P.M. on 28.08.2018. A four-wheeler (Maruti 800 Car) bearing Registration No.OR-14C-3810 lightly hit a two-wheeler bearing Registration No.OR-05V-7774. The spot was at Nayabazar (Cuttack town). Owing to the impact of the light collision, the occupants / riders of the aforesaid two-wheeler fell down on the road. The incident was followed by a public commotion. The driver of the four-wheeler (Maruti 800 car) was man-handled by the local people. Some from the public made a call to the Police. The P.C.R. Van arrived there at the spot. But, before arrival of the P.C.R. Van, one Dillip Singh is alleged to have taken away forcibly the ignition key of the Maruti 800 car in question, and he is alleged to have beaten the driver of the car on his head and other parts of the body. The Police personnels present in the P.C.R. Van asked the driver of the Maruti 800 car to come with them to the Police Station. He protested by saying that he being innocent and he having been man-handled and beaten by the public, why should he go to the Police Station. There was commotion on the road paralyzing the traffic. Some of the police personnels of the P.C.R. Van are alleged to have beaten the driver of the said Maruti 800 car with lathi and the driver of the car was alleged to have been taken to the Police Station forcibly. The said driver of the four-wheeler (Maruti 800 car) was Mr. Debi Prasad Pattnaik, who is a practicing advocate of Orissa High Court. This news spreaded to the advocates’ fraternity. Many Advocates rushed to the concerned Police Station in groups and Mr. Debi Prasad Pattnaik was allowed to leave the Police Station by the police.
2. On 29.08.2018, i.e. on the next day itself of the occurrence, a call for strike was given by the Orissa High Court Bar Association along with other Bar Associations of Cuttack town demanding arrest of five accused persons including the police personnels, a Home-guard and aforesaid Dillip Singh. Subsequently the other Bar Associations of the entire State were invited to the Orissa High Court Bar Association, a meeting was held, a Joint Action Committee was formed and the strike continued, and even today, i.e. on 14.11.2018 the strike is on, demanding arrest of the three police personnels namely Prasanna Kumar Behera (Havildar), Dillip Kumar Samal (Constable) and Udaya Bhuyan (Constable), who are alleged to have beaten advocate Mr. Debi Prasad Pattnaik (the driver of the car in question). In the meantime, accused Dillip Singh and the Home-Guard Kishor Jena have been arrested and released on bail.
3. Many attempts by Hon’ble the Chief Justice, Orissa with his good gesture along with his companion judges failed to break the impasse. Order passed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India directing the lawyers’ fraternity to end the strike also could not yield any positive result. When there was sight for a slight hope of joining the members of the Bar in Court work, some untoward incidents happened and the matter still aggravated prolonging the unfortunate impasse.
4. The Division Bench presided by Hon’ble the Chief Justice, Orissa also judicially dealt with the matter, passed different orders and ultimately passed order for supervision of the investigation conducted by the I.G. of Police, CID (Crime Branch), as per the direction of the Hon’ble Supreme Court, by a sitting judge of the Orissa High Court. Though the lawyers of the Bar undertook to call off the strike on passing of that order by Hon’ble the Chief Justice, somehow or other the leadership could not impress upon the General Body of the Bar and thus the strike continued further.
5. During continuance of the strike, an unfortunate incident happened on 29.10.2018 when some lawyers allegedly belonging to a particular political party tried to force their entry to the Court to conduct cases in spite of the strike call by different Bar Associations of the State. On that day, in the corridor of the Court of the Hon
