Police are required to follow strict guidelines on the execution of non-bailable warrants and report to the court in case of failure.

O R D E R

The Criminal Original Petition is filed seeking a direction to the 1^st and 2^nd respondents to execute the Non Bailable Warrant, dated

03.01.2025 issued by the I Additional Family Court, Chennai.

2. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned Government Advocate (Crl.Side) appearing for respondents 1 and 2 and perused the materials available on record.

3. Since no adverse order is passed as against respondents 3 and 4, notice to those respondents is hereby dispensed with.

4. According to the petitioner, the marriage between the petitioner and the third respondent herein was solemnised in the year 2012 and out of their wedlock one male child was born. Due to difference of opinion, they got separated and the petitioner/wife filed a maintenance case in M.C.No.246 of 2018 before the I Additional Principal Judge, Chennai. The learned I Additional Principal Judge, Chennai, by order dated

08.11.2022 allowed the petition and directed the third respondent/husband to pay a sum of Rs.10,000/- per month to the petitioner/wife and Rs.5,000/- per month to their minor child. Since the third respondent herein wantonly not obeying the directions of the Court below, on 03.01.2025, the Court below issued Non-Bailable Warrant against the third respondent herein and the same has not been executed by the second respondent-Police till date. Hence the present petition.

5. The learned Government Advocate (Crl.Side) appearing for the respondents 1 and 2 submitted that, since the third respondent - husband had given a false address during the maintenance case before the 1^st Additional Family Court, the second respondent-Police is not in a position to execute the Non-Bailable Warrant issued on 03.01.2025. 6. The Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Raghuvansh Dewanchand Bhasin Vs. State of Maharashtra and Anr ((2012) 9 SCC 791) [Crl.A.No.1758 of 2011] had issued certain guidelines on issuance of Non-Bailable Warrant. The relevant portion of the judgment is extracted hereunder :-

'' 28. However, before parting with the judgment, we feel that in order to prevent such a paradoxical situation, we are faced with in the instant case, and to check or obviate the possibility of misuse of an arrest warrant, in addition to the statutory and constitutional requirements to which reference has been made above, it would be appropriate to issue the following guidelines to be adopted in all cases where non-bailable warrants are issued by the courts:

28.1. All the High Court shall ensure that the subordinate courts use printed and machine numbered Form 2 for issuing warrant of arrest and each such form is duly accounted for;

28.2. Before authenticating, the court must ensure that complete particulars of the case are mentioned on the warrant;

28.3. The presiding Judge of the Court (or responsible officer specially authorised for the purpose in case of High Courts) issuing the warrant should put his full and legible signatures on the process, also ensuring that Court seal bearing complete particulars of the Court is prominently endorsed thereon;

28.4. The court must ensure that warrant is directed to a particular police officer (or authority) and, unless intended to be open-ended, it must be returnable whether executed or unexecuted, on or before the date specified therein;

28.5. Every court must maintain a register (in the format given below at p. 804), in which each warrant of arrest issued must be entered chronologically and the serial number of such entry reflected on the top right hand of the process;

28.6. No warrant of arrest shall be issued without being entered in the register mentioned above and the court concerned shall periodically check/monitor the same to