C.W.P. No.10364 of 2009 -1- IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH C.W.P. No.10364 of 2009 (O&M) Date of decision:15.07.2009. Chetan Gupta ...Petitioner Versus State of Punjab and others ...Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE JASBIR SINGH Present: Mr. Rajiv Atma Ram, Senior Advocate, with Mr. Daman Dhir, Advocate, for the petitioner. ***** JASBIR SINGH, J. By filing this writ petition, petitioner prays that a writ of mandamus be issued to the respondents to issue the petitioner, 10 days advance notice, in case the respondents wish to arrest him, in a case likely to be registered against him in the State of Punjab by any wing of the Punjab Police. Admittedly, the petitioner is an accused in FIR No.5 of 2007, registered in Police Station Vigilance Bureau at Ludhiana. In that case, he is on regular bail. He is also an accused in FIR No.28 of 2008. After registration of the above said case, he came to this Court, asking for anticipatory bail, his application bearing Criminal Misc. No.M-18152 of 2008, was disposed of on 24.07.2008 (P-9). It was observed as under: - “Ms. Rita Kohli, learned Additional Advocate General appearing for the State of Punjab, at the very out-set has made a statement that the petitioner is not required by the investigating agency at this stage. In view of the statement made above by the learned State counsel, learned Senior Advocate appearing for the C.W.P. No.10364 of 2009 -2- petitioner submits that he does not press this petition at this stage and prays that the same may be dismissed as withdrawn. Dismissed as withdrawn. However, it is made clear that in case the investigating agency requires the petitioner, then in that eventuality, before arresting him, four days' notice in writing well in advance be served upon him. It is also made clear that the petitioner shall cooperate with the Investigating Agency as and when called upon to do so.” It is an admitted fact that about one year has elapsed when that order was passed, the respondents have not initiated any criminal action in the meantime against the petitioner. Now the petitioner has been asked to put in appearance, for investigation in the above said FIR, before S.S.P., Vigilance Bureau at Patiala on 17.07.2009. (Copy of the notice has been put on record during the course of arguments.) An averment has been made by the counsel for the petitioner that the petitioner apprehends that on his appearance at Patiala, he is going to be arrested by registering some false case by the respondents without any justification. Long history of the earlier cases, registered against the petitioner and how he was arrested and tortured etc. has been given. In this writ petition, following prayer has been made by the petitioner: - “issue a writ of mandamus or any direction or order directing the respondents to issue ten days notice before arresting them in any case to be registered against them any where in the State of Punjab and by the State of Punjab/the Punjab Vigilance Bureau/Punjab Police or any other State instrumentality or State agency under the control and C.W.P. No.10364 of 2009 -3- directions of the State Government.” To claim above said relief, facts are mentioned in para Nos.6, 27(i), 27(vii), 27(xi) and 27(xviii) of this writ petition. These paragraphs reads thus: - “6. Unfortunately however, the petitioner who lives in Delhi with his wife, minor son and ailing aged mother and has undergone such excruciating mental and physical torture has once again been made the target of the evil designs of the current government and their agencies. Over the past few days the petitioner has been receiving threatening calls from unknown numbers threatening him that he dare not step into Punjab or he would get arrested in some new case. It is submitted that even though to the best of the petitioners knowledge no other case is pending against him, yet he is mortally scared of being picked up, arrested and tortured in some vague and false case, since the respondents have obviously got no qualms of misusing the powers entrusted to them to ensure that they succeed in their evil designs. 27(i) That the petitioner is directly approaching this Hon'ble Court as the alleged FIR can be registered against him any where in the State of Punjab. The petitioner himself cannot point out any particular station/district where he would be implicated in a criminal case. His apprehension is bonafide and genuine and is well established on the basis of the facts narrated and perusal of the news reports. The manner in which the investigating agency namely the Vigilance Bureau is going out of its way by involving wholly unconnected people in series of cases like Ludhiana City Centre, Disproportionate Asset's case against the petitioner, former DGP and the C.W.P. No.10364 of 2009 -4- former Chief Minister are few examples. The strategy is to arrest the person on a false pretest to subject him to third degree treatment and extract confessions and plant recoveries to show achievement in a drive which has so far made no headway. The Vigilance Bureau and the present Chief Minister are leaving no stone unturned with a view to falsely implicate the petitioner in a criminal case and arrest him. 27(vii). That during his custodial interrogation, the petitioner was interrogated by the officers of the Vigilance Bureau, Punjab in the premises of Police Station Sadar, Ludhiana and was stripped to his underclothing and was humiliated and tortured during the course of the period of Police Custody of 7 days. The petitioner was not just slapped or physically assaulted, but was made to undergo third degree torture with the vigilance persons giving him electric shocks all over his body. 27(xi). For that the petitioner cannot be expected to live in the constant fear of being arrested at the States wish for alleged offences he does not even have an iota of idea about. It is submitted that the petitioner has no means of knowing the extent of malicious and vexatious designs of the respondents and until and unless he is given the protection as prayed for in the present petition he would be living in constant fear of the atrocities of the respondents. It has been authoritatively held by the Constitution Bench of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Sibbia's case that the petitioner under the threat of abuse of State power cannot be expected to draw up his petition as meticulously as in a civil case. It shall be a travesty of justice if the petitioner has to rely upon the documents or material C.W.P. No.10364 of 2009 -5- which cannot possibly be in his possession, before approaching the Court. As per the prescribed procedure, a petitioner has no means to know as to what enquiries are going on against him or whether any material is being quoted and kept under the wraps with the objective of promptly registering the case at the opportune moment. The petitioner can only express his apprehension from surrounding circumstances e.g. the political bias against him, the secret and systematic leaks by the Investigating Agency, the circumstances showing that Capt. Amarinder Singh and the people close to him are being singlled out for persecution and the reports in the media giving indications of on going enquiries or informal local investigation or plans to implicate him in one or the other case. Therefore, from the very nature of things, a petitioner cannot be expected to place before the courts, strictly legal evidence about a case likely to be registered against him.” 27(xviii). That the petitioner is apprehending his arrest regarding the alleged offences, which are non-bailable because of the political vendetta to torture, humiliate publicly and to tarnish his image whereas the nature and gravity of the alleged allegations are not serious to deny the anticipatory bail particularly when false and concocted cases are being manufactured due to political vendetta. The petitioner is a respectable law abiding citizen and could not in any manner misuse the concession of bail by tampering or pressurizing the witnesses. It is respectfully submitted that even recently while proceedings have been pending before this Hon'ble Court, the respondents are in the process of fabricating new and false C.W.P. No.10364 of 2009 -6- cases against the petitioner.” This Court feels that the apprehension raised by the petitioner has no justification. In paragraph No.6 of this writ petition, it has been stated that the petitioner is likely to made target on account of evil designs of the current government and their agencies. It has further been stated that the petitioner has been receiving threatening calls from unknown persons stating that he dare not step into Punjab, else he will be arrested in some new false case. When calls were made, from which numbers calls have been made, who made those calls, who received, at what time/date, nothing has been stated to substantiate the contention. Even number on which these calls were received has not been mentioned in this paragraph. In paragraph Nos.27(i), 27(vii), 27(xi) and 27(xviii), it has only been stated that a false FIR is likely to be registered against the petitioner, any where in the State of Punjab. The petitioner is not in a position to indicate the Police Station. To strengthen apprehension of the petitioner that he is going to be arrested, it has been stated that earlier also he was arrested in a false criminal case and was tortured. It was further mentioned that the Vigilance Bureau and the present Chief Minister are leaving no stone unturned to falsely implicate the petitioner in a criminal case. This Court feels that there is no foundation to satisfy above apprehension. Petitioner is an accused in FIR No.5 of 2007, in which he was enlarged on regular bail. In FIR No.28 of 2008, he was granted relief by this Court, vide order dated 24.07.2008, that before his arrest 4 days' advance notice be given to him. About one year has elapsed, no attempt has been made by the authorities to register any case against the petitioner. In these paragraphs, only treatment meted out to him in the past has been detailed. It has further been stated that the petitioner C.W.P. No.10364 of 2009 -7- cannot live continuously under threat and on account of facts mentioned in those paragraphs, he is entitled to get the blanket bail as has been prayed in this writ petition. In view of above mentioned facts, this Court feels that so far as grant of blanket bail to the petitioner is concerned, he is not able to make out any case. Otherwise also, the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Union of India Vs. Padam Narain Aggarwal etc., AIR 2008 Supreme Court 254, have specifically stated that it is not justified to grant blanket bail to an applicant except in exceptional cases. This Court feels that no exceptional case is made out. Petitioner has been summoned to participate in the pending investigation on 17.07.2009, vide notice dated 09.07.2009, in FIR No.28 of 2008. Apprehension of the petitioner that he will be arrested is not justified because when that FIR was registered, he came to this Court and at his instance, order dated 27.07.2008 (P-9) was passed, granting him protection from sudden arrest. In view of above, no case is made out to grant relief to the petitioner as prayed. Dismissed. July 15, 2009. ( JASBIR SINGH ) vinod JUDGE