The court ruled that the exercise of judicial discretion under Section 205 of the Code of Criminal Procedure must consider the age and health of the petitioner when deciding on personal appearance exemptions.

Judgment :

Sanjeeb K Panigrahi, J.

1. The petitioner is assailing the order dated 27.01.2025 passed by the learned Special Judge (CBI-I), Bhubaneswar, rejecting the application filed by the petitioner under Section 205 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 in Crl. Misc. (PMLA) Case No. 11 of 2024.

I. FACTUAL MATRIX OF THE CASE

2. The brief facts of the case are as follows:

i. An FIR was registered by Koraput Vigilance, being P.S. Case No. 11 of 2012, for offences punishable under Section 13(2) read with Section 13(1)(e) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

ii. Pursuant thereto, Charge Sheet No. 15 of 2018 dated 27.07.2018 was submitted before the learned Special Judge (Vigilance), Jeypore, Koraput.

v. Upon filing of the complaint, the learned Special Judge (CBI-I), Bhubaneswar, took cognizance of the offence and issued summons in Form No. 1 to the accused persons, including the present petitioner, directing their appearance.

vi. In pursuance of the summons so issued, accused nos. 1 and 2 appeared before the learned Special Judge and furnished bonds under Section 88 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, on 11.12.2024.

vii. The petitioner, Smt. Kuntala Panda, who was arrayed as accused no. 3, filed an application under Section 205 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, before the learned Special Judge (CBI-I), Bhubaneswar, seeking exemption from personal appearance on the grounds of her advanced age, medical condition, and the distance between her place of residence and the court at Bhubaneswar, and undertook to appear before the court below as and when required.

viii. The learned Special Judge (CBI-I), Bhubaneswar, by order dated 27.01.2025, rejected the application filed under Section 205 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, and directed the petitioner to appear before the court on 12.03.2025.Subsequently, the date of appearance was fixed on 29.10.2025.

ix. Aggrieved by the order dated 27.01.2025, the petitioner has approached this Court by filing the present petition.

II. SUBMISSIONS ON BEHALF OF THE PETITIONER

3. Learned counsel for the petitioner earnestly made the following submissions in support of his contentions:

i. The petitioner submitted that the order rejecting the application under Section 205 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, passed by the learned Special Judge (CBI-I), Bhubaneswar, is illegal, arbitrary, and suffers from non-application of judicial mind, inasmuch as the old age and illness of the petitioner were not duly considered, and for the said reasons, the impugned order is liable to be quashed.

ii. It was submitted that the petitioner is a law-abiding person who has cooperated with both the investigating authorities and has appeared before them as and when required, without any complaint.

iii. It was further submitted that Section 205(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, envisages that the Magistrate issuing summons may, if he sees reason to do so, dispense with the personal attendance of