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W.P.Crl.(MD)No.1684 of 2026

BEFORE THE MADURAI BENCH OF MADRAS HIGH COURT

DATED : 26.03.2026

CORAM:

THE HONOURABLE MRS.JUSTICE L.VICTORIA GOWRI

W.P.Crl.(MD)No.1684 of 2026

V.S.Gourmohandoss ... Petitioner

Vs.

1. State of Tamil Nadu, Rep. By the Superintendent of Police,

Theni District, Theni.

2. The Inspector of Police, Bodinayakkanur (Rural) Police Station,

Bodinayakkanur, Theni District. ... Respondents

PRAYER : Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India for issuance of Writ of Mandamus, directing the respondents herein to close the History Sheet in H.S.No. 182/2019 pending against me based on the petitioner's

representation dated 29.12.2025. For Petitioner : Mr.S.Sankar

For Respondents : Mr.S.Ravi Additional Public Prosecutor

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W.P.Crl.(MD)No.1684 of 2026

ORDER

This petition has been filed seeking for a direction to the respondents

herein to close the History Sheet in H.S.No. 182 of 2019 pending against the

petitioner, based on the petitioner's representation dated 29.12.2025.

2. The petitioner has sent a representation on 29.12.2025 to the

respondents seeking to remove his name from the History Sheet No.182 of

2019. Since the same was not considered, this writ petition is filed.

3. The issue involved in this writ petition has already been dealt with by

the Madurai Bench of this Court and detailed order has been passed in W.P. (MD)No.19651 of 2017 on 26.09.2018. On the basis of the above said Order, the Director General Of Police, Chennai issued a circular in Rc.No.

66569/Crime 3(2)/2019 dated 24.04.2019, which reads as follows :-

“7. From the above judgments the following principles emerge insofar as history sheeters are concerned:

a. In order to facilitate the study of crime and criminals, the Police Standing Orders provides a mechanism, whereby every Police Station shall maintain a crime history, which shall be a confidential record. In this record all cases of crime that are mentioned in PSO No.742, which provides various classes of crime, shall be entered and even an attempt to commit those offences, are entered in the records

maintained in the Police Station.

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W.P.Crl.(MD)No.1684 of 2026

b. These crime records maintained by the Various Police Stations shall be reviewed every year by the Inspector of Police of the concerned Police Station. On such review, the Inspector of Police has to furnish a concise appreciation of the year's crime for the benefit of the Superior Officers and also to make suggestions in order to improve the quality of crime control. The review undertaken by the Inspector of Police is not merely a catalogue of the crime in the year. It should reflect the valuable suggestions in order to prevent such crimes in future and to provide ways and means of handling serious

offences in an effective manner.

c. History Sheet can be opened by the concerned Police Station under two circumstances. The first circumstance is provided under PSO No.746, which states that the history sheet can be opened against a person who is a resident (permanently or temporarily) within the station limit, who is known or believed to be addicted to commission of crime, whether convicted or not. Here the thrust is on the habituality or the propensity to commit a crime by a person,

which is sought to be monitored by opening a history sheet.

d. The second category of persons against whom history sheet can be opened are the persons, who are convicted for various offences that has been listed in PSO No.747, wherein opening of the

history sheet is automatic.

e. In the first category of opening history sheet, month wise scrutiny or a close watch on the person concerned is contemplated. Here also there is sub-categorization as, close watch bad characters and non-close watch bad characters. In the former, the entry shall be made month wise and in the later, the entry shall be ma