ITEM NO.17 COURT NO.9 SECTION II S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS Petition(s) for Special Leave to Appeal(Crl.)...... CRLMP No(s).

9866/2016 [Arising out of impugned final judgment and order dated 17-08-2015 in GA No. 2161/1987 passed by the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad]

STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH Petitioner(s)

VERSUS CHATURBHUJ & ANR. Respondent(s)

(IA No. 9866/2016 - CONDONATION OF DELAY IN FILING Date : 11-02-2025 This matter was called on for hearing today.

CORAM : HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE BELA M. TRIVEDI HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE PRASANNA B. VARALE For Petitioner(s) Mr. S. R. Singh, Sr. Adv.

Mr. Ajay Agarwal, A.A.G.

Mr. Rajeev Kumar Dubey, Adv.

Mr. Gourav Dahiya, Adv.

Mr. Kamlendra Mishra, AOR For Respondent(s) Mr. Suresh Kumar Sharma, Adv.

Mr. Aditya Sharma, Adv.

Ms. Shilpa Singh, AOR Mrs. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G.

Mrs. Ruchi Kohli, Sr. Adv.

Mr. Mukesh Kumar Maroria, AOR Mrs. Vimla Sinha, Adv.

UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following

O R D E R

1. Delay condoned.

Signature Not Verified Digital2y sig.ned by Criminal Miscellaneous Petition No. 9866 of 2016 seeking VARSHA MENDIRATTA Date: 2025.02.15

16:09:38 IST Reason:

condonation of delay occurred in filing the Special Leave Petition stands allowed.

3. The present Special Leave Petition has been filed by the petitioner-State of Uttar Pradesh, challenging the final judgment and order dated 17.08.2015 passed by the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad in Government Appeal No. 2161 of 1987.

4. It appears that the said Government Appeal No. 2161 of 1987 was dismissed by the High Court, as the record and proceedings of the case, being Sessions Trial No. 87 of 1986 disposed of by the Sessions Judge, Hamirpur, vide judgment and order dated 19.05.1987, were not traceable.

5. It was also mentioned in the impugned order that there were about 74 Government Appeals in which lower Court’s records were missing and despite best efforts, the records could not be traced out. The High Court after having made the said observation, had dismissed the said appeal of the Government and further observed that there was no good reason to continue with the said appeal.

6. Being aggrieved, the Special Leave Petition has been filed by the Petitioner-State of Uttar Pradesh before this Court.

7. This Court, vide order dated 17.07.2017, had directed the CBI to be impleaded as a party respondent no. 2 in the present petition and the response of the CBI was sought, as the CBI was investigating in the said matter of missing records. It appears that thereafter the CBI had submitted the affidavit on 20.09.2019, and this Court has passed the following order on 19.02.2019:-

“It appears that in the High Court, Criminal Appeal No.

2111 of 1986 was disposed of on 29.09.2015 for want of record. Similarly, in Criminal Appeal No. 857 of 1989, decided on 29.09.2015 and Criminal Appeal No. 463 of 1991, decided on 29.09.2015, the accused persons were acquitted by the High Court on the ground that record of the trial court was not available.

It is reported that now the record has been traced pursuant to the investigation ordered by this Court in Criminal Misc. Petition No. 9866 of 2016, State of U. P. Vs. Chaturbhuj, the CBI has made the investigation and since the record is traceable, we deem it appropriate to issue notice to the accused persons indicating why the order dated 29.09.2015 passed in their appeals be set aside and the High Court may be directed to decide the cases on merits since the record is available now.

Issue notice in the instant Special Leave Petition as well as to the accused persons in aforesaid appeals.

List after eight weeks with service report.

The State is permitted to serve the accused persons in the aforesaid appeals through trial court.”

8. Subsequently, the CBI appears to have filed the affidavit on 20.09.2019 stating, inter alia, that the lower Court records of the Government appeals were not found and the Status Report was also submitted in a sealed cover.

9. So far as the present Specia