IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Crl. Misc. No. M-42308 of 2007 Date of Decision: November 18, 2008 Smt. Sudesh …. Petitioner Versus State of Haryana and others … Respondents CORAM: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE S.D. ANAND. Present : Mr. K.D.S. Hooda, Advocate, for the petitioner. Mr. S.S. Mor, Sr. DAG, Haryana. **** S.D. Anand, J. The counter presented by the learned State counsel today is taken on record. The husband of the petitioner was lodged in Jail at Gurgaon. The allegation is that he was sent out of the jail, on the pretext that he was to be produced in a Rajasthan Court, by jail official Anil in spite of the fact that no production warrant for his appearance before Rajasthan Court had been received. The husband of the petitioner was available at Bus Stop in the custody of the police when he was murdered by named miscreants. Crl. Misc. No. M-42308 of 2007 The grievance of the petitioner is that it was not a case of negligence on the part of the jail official Anil but that he was privy to a conspiracy to send her husband out of the jail to enable the perpetrator of the crime to murder him. In the course of the proceedings, the petitioner made a grievance of the fact that the main culprit i.e. Deputy Superintendent of Jail namely Anil had not only been reinstated in the meantime, but had also been given additional charge of another jail. In the context of that averment, the learned State counsel informs that though the averment is factually correct, the jail official aforementioned is no longer holding that additional charge. In the course of the petition, the petitioner has applied for the grant of the following relief:- 1) For issuance of a direction to the respondents to register an FIR against respondent Nos. 7 and 8 on the basis of the allegations made in the course of the complaint dated 20.03.2007 (Annexure P/3); and/or 2) For entrustment of the enquiry to an independent agency; and/or 3) Protect the life and liberty of the petitioner and her family including three minor children and her aged mother-in- law. It is apparent from the record that the matter had been investigated by the local police and a charge-sheet against five accused had already been filed and further that charge-sheet against 2 Crl. Misc. No. M-42308 of 2007 two other accused is also under way. The investigation did not reveal any incriminating role of the police officials. The learned State counsel, in response to a query by this Court, concedes that no production warrant had, in fact, been received in respect of the husband of the petitioner but that his being handed over to the police guard was on account of an inadvertent error. He is not in a position to offer any factual response to the averment that the police official in charge of the guard resisted taking the husband of the petitioner for want of a production warrant in his name. That factual controversy, which shall have important and relevant bearing on the aspect of legal culpability of the aforementioned jail official, shall have to be adjudicated upon at the trial. The petition shall stand disposed of with the following directions:- 1) The learned Competent Court shall treat the present petition as a (private) complaint and proceed thereafter in accordance with law; 2) The official respondent Nos. 1 to 3 (all of them) shall ensure that the petitioner, her three minor children and her aged mother-in-law shall have the similar constitutional protection which is available to all the citizens of the country under Article 21 of the Constitution of India; 3 Crl. Misc. No. M-42308 of 2007 3) The Police Officer who investigated this case shall not be given any field posting till the conclusion of the trial. (The last indicated direction would allay the apprehension in the mind of the petitioner that the then Investigating Officer, if given a posting in the field, would be in a position to cause harm to her and the other members of her family). Disposed of accordingly. November 18, 2008 ( S.D. Anand ) vkd Judge Note: Whether to be referred to reporter : Yes/No 4