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SUMEET GOEL, J. (Oral)

1. Present petition has been filed under Section 528 of BNSS, 2023, seeking quashing of order dated 14.12.2023 (Annexure P-3) passed by the Judicial Magistrate Ist Class, Chandigarh whereby the petitioner was declared proclaimed person in FIR No.0140 dated 06.08.2023 registered under Sections 365, 386, 420, 506, 120-B, 364-B and 389 of IPC at Police Station Sector 39, U.T. Chandigarh as also all consequential proceedings arising therefrom. Further a prayer has been made by the petitioner seeking protection from coercive action and for a direction to the Court below to release him on bail on his appearance.

2. The case of the prosecution, as emerging from the record, is that FIR in question came to be registered on the complaint of one Sanjay Goyal alleging that he had been lured to Chandigarh on the pretext of exchange of currency notes of denomination of Rs.2000/- into denomination of Rs.500/-. It has been alleged that after the complainant reached Sector-40, Chandigarh along with cash amount of ₹1.00 crore, certain persons in connivance with police officials, wrongfully restrained and kidnapped him, threatened him with false implication and forcibly robbed cash amounting to Rs.1.01 crore along with documents and mobile phones. During the course of investigation, certain accused persons were arrested and the name of the present petitioner surfaced in the disclosure statement of co-accused Vajinder Singh @ Gill. The petitioner was thereafter arrayed as an accused and proceedings under Section 82 Cr.P.C. were initiated against him. Vide impugned order dated 14.12.2023, the Court below declared the petitioner as a proclaimed person.

3. Learned counsel for the petitioner has iterated that the impugned order declaring the petitioner as a proclaimed person is patently illegal, arbitrary and an abuse of the process of law as the mandatory procedure prescribed under Section 82 of Cr.P.C. were not complied with. Learned counsel has further iterated that the petitioner was not named in the FIR and has been falsely implicated solely on the basis of disclosure statement of a co-accused, which by itself is inadmissible in evidence. It has been further contended that the petitioner has no knowledge about the proceedings pending against him as during the relevant period he was suffering from serious spinal injury and was undergoing treatment at different places including Dehradun, Amritsar, Pathankot and Gurdaspur. It has been further submitted that the proclamation notice dated 04.10.2023 required the petitioner to appear on 31.10.2023, however the mandatory procedure regarding publication and execution of proclamation was never followed. Furthermore, no material has been placed before the Court below to establish that the proclamation was publicly read in the locality, affixed at the residence of the petitioner or affixed at the Court notice board and duly executed in accordance with law. It has been further contended that a perusal of the zimni orders passed by the Court below are completely silent with regard to recording of statement of the serving official with respect to the mode and date of publication of proclamation. Learned counsel has emphasized that co-accused namely Praveen Shah has also posed challenge to the same proclamation order before this Court in which interim protection has already been granted. Learned counsel has further submitted that the Court below has failed to record any satisfaction that the petitioner has absconded or was concealing himself which is a sine qua non for invoking proclamation proceedings. Accordingly, the order declaring the petitioner as a proclaimed person is unsustainable in the eyes of law and deserves to be quashed.

4. Referring to the reply filed by way of an affidavit of Jaswinder Singh SDPO/South, Officiating charge of SDPO/South-West, on behalf of the UT Chandigarh, learned counsel appearing for the U.T. Chandigarh has reiterated the submissions made therein