IN THE HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND AT

NAINITAL

CRIMINAL WRIT PETITION NO. 1383 OF 2021

(Under Article 226 of the Constitution of India)

Naresh Pandey

…...

Petitioner

Versus

State of Uttarakhand & Others

.…Respondents

Ms. Pushpa Joshi, Senior Advocate, assisted by Ms.

Chetna Latwal, Advocate for the petitioner

Mr. V.K. Jemini, Dy. Advocate General, assisted by Ms.

Mamta Joshi, Brief Holder for the State.

Judgment reserved on : 7.9.2021

Judgment delivered on: 24.9.2021

Hon’ble N.S. Dhanik, J.

The writ petitioner has filed the present

writ petition praying for quashing of history-sheet

No. 7A, dated 14.7.2020, issued/opened by the

Officer-in-charge, Police Station Bhowali, District

Nainital, under Regulation 228 of the U.P. Police

Regulations,

as

applicable

in

the

State

of

Uttarakhand.

2. The petitioner contends that he is

Vyapar Mandal Adhyaksha, Bhowali and is a

reputed person and also contested the election of

Chairman of Nagar Palika Parishad, Bhowali. The

2

petitioner keeps on espousing the public causes and

for this reason, the rival people, in collusion with

the local police station, are instrumental in

implicating the petitioner in false cases.

3. As per the information furnished by

the

police

department,

the

petitioner

was

implicated in eight criminal cases, details of which

are given herein below:

(i) FIR No. 17/2013, under Sections

341, 147 IPC, PS Bhowali, District Nainital.

(ii) FIR No. 21/2017, under Sections

504, 506 IPC, PS Bhowali, District Nainital.

(iii) FIR No. 01/2018, under Sections

323, 504, 506 IPC, PS Bhowali, District Nainital.

(iv) FIR No. 71/2018, under Sections

323, 326, 504, 506 IPC, PS Bhowali, District

Nainital.

(v) FIR No. 72/2018, under Sections

323, 504, 506 IPC, PS Bhowali, District Nainital.

(vi) FIR No. 1837/2019, under Sections

3/4 of Gunda Act, PS Bhowali, District Nainital.

(vii) FIR No. 47/2020, under Sections

323, 504, 506 IPC, PS Bhowali, District Nainital.

(viii) FIR No. 48/2020, under Sections

269, 270, 188 IPC and Section 51-B of the Disaster

Management Act, PS Bhowali, District Nainital.

3

4. On the basis of the aforesaid criminal

cases lodged against the writ petitioner, a history-

sheet was opened against him under Regulation

228 of the Police Regulations. In the writ affidavit,

the petitioner has averred that he has not been

found guilty in any of such offences. In FIR No.

17/2013 and FIR No. 72/2018, the petitioner has

been acquitted by the trial court. In FIR No.

21/2017 and FIR No. 1/2018, the police filed the

final report. FIR No. 71/2018 was quashed by this

Court. In FIR No. 1837/2019, stay has been

granted in WPCRL No. 1184/2020 and the same is

still

pending.

In

FIR

No.

47/2020,

cognizance/summoning order has been kept in

abeyance by order of this Court passed in C482 No.

299/2021, which has been filed challenging the

summoning order and the chargesheet. In FIR No.

48/2020, the petitioner is on regular bail.

5. In a nutshell, the writ petitioner has

not been found guilty of commission of any offence.

There is no other criminal case or complaint of any

kind against him either in police station Bhowali or

anywhere else.

6. In view of the above factual matrix of

the

case,

the

question

which

comes

for

consideration before the Court is whether the

4

respondents were justified in continuing with the

surveillance and opening the history-sheet under

Regulation 228 of the Police Regulations. For

convenience,

Regulation

228

of

the

Police

Regulations is extracted hereunder:-

“228. Part V consists of history sheets.

These are the personal records of criminals under

surveillance. History-sheets should be opened only

for persons who are or likely to become habitual

criminal or abettors of such criminals. There will be

two classes of history-sheets:

(1) Cl