Criminal Misc. No. M-20217 of 2009 [1] IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Criminal Misc. No. M-20217 of 2009 (O&M) Date of decision: 28.7.2009 Satnam Singh and others .. Petitioners v. State of Punjab .. Respondent CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJESH BINDAL Present: Mr. J. S. Bedi, Advocate for the petitioners. ... Rajesh Bindal J. The petitioners herein are accused in FIR No. 113 dated 19.6.2009, registered on the statement of Major Gurjinder Benipal (Retired), working as Sub Registrar, Central Ludhiana, with the allegations that the petitioners along with a number of other persons including certain Councillors had stormed into his office and on his refusal to carry out their illegal and arbitrary directions had beaten him, besides taking his licensed revolver, cash, gold chain, wrist watch etc. Learned counsel for the petitioners submitted that in fact, the petitioners have been falsely implicated in the case. In fact, the complainant used to misbehave with the people in his office. The root cause was a complaint dated 19.6.2009 made by one Sanjeev Kumar to Hon'ble the Chief Justice of this Court, where he, being a member of the Scheduled Caste community, was humiliated by the complainant by using filthy language in the name of his caste. The petitioners, in fact, were not even present there. The kind of injuries, which have been suffered by the complainant, do not suggest that it was a mob violence and a number of persons attacked him. Most of the injuries were found to be simple in nature and were merely abrasions. It was further submitted that the petitioners have been involved in the case on account of political rivalry. After hearing learned counsel for the petitioners, I do not find this to be a fit case for grant of anticipatory bail. The incident had taken place at 10.45 A.M. on 19.6.2009 in the office of the complainant. This fact is undisputed. The Criminal Misc. No. M-20217 of 2009 [2] only dispute is as to who were the persons involved. As far as complaint (Annexure P2) dated 19.6.2009 filed by Sanjeev Kumar, which is sought to be relied upon by the petitioners to dilute the allegations made in the FIR is concerned, prima facie I do not find any substance therein as the same was despatched on 20.6.2009 at 11.38 A.M. to various authorities, as is evident from the photo copies of the postal receipts placed on record, which is much after the incident. As to whether the petitioners were present there or not and also as regards their role in the entire incident, in my opinion, the matter is still under investigation. However, the fact remains that the incident had invited wide public attention in the light of the fact that even the officers sitting in the office and discharging their duties are not safe, as the public figures, who are elected to various bodies primarily to serve the interest of the public, can collect in numbers and attack any officer in his office. If the people, who are allegedly involved in such incident, where tendency is to take the law into their own hands without being afraid of anything, are not dealt with sternly, the public may loose faith in the law enforcement agencies. In my opinion, it would be a fit case where to bring out the truth, custodial interrogation of the petitioners is required, which is always qualitative. Accordingly, the present petition is dismissed. (Rajesh Bindal) Judge 28.7.2009 mk