The court ruled that while delays in reporting seizures under Section 102 Cr.P.C. do not invalidate the action, total failure to report affects the legality of the seizure, emphasizing adherence to lawful procedures.

JUDGMENT

Dated this the 13^th day of January, 2025

The petitioner is aggrieved by the sudden freezing of his savings bank and gold loan accounts by the 6^th respondent bank based on requisitions/intimation received from the police. The police in turn has acted on the basis of Cyber Crime Incident Reports filed by persons subjected to online financial fraud/UPI fraud.

2. The essential facts are as under;

The petitioner has been maintaining his accounts at the Athani Branch, Thrissur of the 6^th respondent bank and had availed a gold loan from the bank on the strength of gold ornaments pledged as security. According to the petitioner, the entire amount due towards the gold loan was paid on 05.02.2024. Thereafter, petitioner approached the Branch Manager for getting the pledged gold ornaments released. Thereupon the petitioner was informed that the ornaments cannot be released in view of a communication received from the Station House Officer, Police Station Cyber, Dwarka District, New Delhi. Aggrieved this Writ petition is filed seeking the following reliefs;

“i) issue a writ of certiorari or any other appropriate writ, order or direction. calling upon entire records leading and including any oral or written direction given by the 5^th respondent SHO to respondents 6 to 8 to freeze the petitioner gold assets and to set them aside in the petitioner's gold loan account;

ii) issue a writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ, order or direction commanding respondents 6 to 8 to release the gold assets of the petitioner in his closed gold loan account 004956200001440 which is maintained by respondents 6 to 8 and further direct them to issue NOC upon the loan account to the petitioner within a time frame fixed by this Hon'ble;

iii) issue a writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ, order or direction commanding respondents 1 to 5 to provide the petitioner with all the details of the crime in which his accounts are being placed under freeze and the reasons for the same within a time frame fixed by this Hon'ble court;

iv) issue a writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ, order or direction commanding respondents 1 to 5 to take leave from this Hon'ble court before initiating any further proceedings including automatic debit freezes on the petitioner's bank accounts;

v) issue a writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ, order or direction commanding respondents 6 to 8 to not act upon unlawful demands of the police respondents like respondents 3 to 5 to put on the petitioner's accounts on debit freeze without lawful orders from competent courts of law;

vi. issue a writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ, order or direction commanding respondents 1 to 5 to follow procedure established by law while dealing with civil liberties of the petitioner including his rights to hold and transact in a bank account and there be no automatic procedures unknown to law like the one carried out by the 5^th respondent SHO which forms the material dispute in this writ petition (civil).”

3. Learned counsel for the petitioner contended that the entire amount due under the gold loan account having been repaid, respondents 6 and 7 cannot withhold the pledged gold ornaments based on the requisition received from the 5^th respondent Station House Officer. It is submitted that the Savings Bank Account of the petitioner is also put under debit freeze pursuant to the requisition and this Court in Dr.Sajeer v. Reserve Bank of India [2024 (1) KLT 826] addressed the plight of similarly situated persons, disposed of the writ petition with certain directions. The petitioner is seeking a direction to lift the debit freeze over his gold loan account immediately and the freeze over the other account in accordance with the directions inDr.Sajeer (supra)

4. Heard.

5. For convenience, th