Sadhwi Pragyna Singh Thakur vs State Of Maharashtra

3. The appellant claims to be the original resident of Surat. According to her she renounced material world and became Sadhwi in a religious ceremony, which was performed at Prayag, Uttar Pradesh and has settled herself at Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, in the premises offered by one Agrawal family.

On September 29, 2008 a bomb blast took place at about 9.30 PM in Azad Nagar locality of Malegaon city, killing six persons and injuring more than hundred persons. With reference to the said bomb blast A.C.R. I-130/08 is registered with Azad Nagar Police Station on September 30, 2008 against unknown persons under Sections 302, 307, 324, 427 3 and 153 of Indian Penal Code as well as under

The case of the appellant is that on October 15, 2008 the appellant and her disciple were taken in ATS vehicle to Hotel Rajdoot in Nagpada and kept in room No. 315 and were made to sign hotel entry register.

According to the appellant, money was paid by the ATS and while in hotel the appellant was asked to call from mobile No. 9406600004 to her friends and acquaintances to say that she was fine. The case of the appellant is that she developed bad health due to custodial violence and had acute abdominal and kidney pain as a result of which she was admitted in a hospital known as Shushrusha Hospital at Dadar.

According to her after half an hour her disciple Bhim Bhai was also brought to the hospital and admission form of the appellant and other documents were got signed by him. The case of the appellant is that officer Khanwilkar deposited money at the hospital and the 7 disciple of the appellant left hospital after which his whereabouts are not known to the appellant.

The case pleaded by the appellant is that she was formally arrested on October 23, 2008, but reasons of her arrest were not communicated to her nor the names of her relations were ascertained from her to inform them about her arrest. The grievance made by the appellant is that no legal assistance was made available to her and on October 24, 2008 she was produced before learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Nasik, where the police custody was sought which was granted upto November 3, 2008. According to her, her relations knew about her arrest only through media when news about her arrest appeared in the newspapers on October 25, 2008. Thereupon Bhagwan Jha, brother-in-law of the appellant and her sister met A.T.S. officers to permit them to meet the appellant but were not allowed to do so. According to the appellant, they could meet her on November 2, 2008 when the appellant was allowed to sign Vakalatnama of a lawyer engaged by her sister. The 8 claim of the appellant is that on November 1, 2008 she was subjected to a polygraphic test without her permission. The case pleaded by the appellant is that on November 3, 2008, she was produced before learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Nasik and her police custody was sought but the same was declined by the learned Magistrate and she was remanded to judicial custody. According to the appellant her advocate moved an application seeking her medical examination, and demanding an enquiry into her illegal detention as well as treatment meted out to her.

The advocate also prayed to direct BSNL to furnish outgoing call details from mobile of the appellant on October 15, 2008. The case pleaded by the appellant is that on November 3, 2008 the appellant got opportunity to have a dialogue with her advocate and she narrated atrocities committed by ATS on her.

On November 20, 2008, the provisions of Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, 1999 were invoked on the basis of permission granted by DIG, ATS, but application filed by ATS seeking police custody of the appellant was rejected on November 24, 2008.

The case of the respondent is that the charge sheet was filed on January 20, 2009 which was 89th day from the date of first remand order i.e. October 24, 2008. The respondent had filed reply to the above application on 05.05.2009. The learned Special Judge rejected the said Bail Application by order dated July 09, 2009. Thereupon, the appellant filed Criminal Application No. 3878 of 2009 in the High Court of Mumbai. This was a petition under Sections 401 and 439 Cr.P.C against the order of the learned Special Judge. Prayer (b) was to set aside the order dated July 09, 2009 and, therefore, it was essentially a Revision Petition. The main ground on which bail was sought was that charge sheet was required to be filed within 90 days from the date of her arrest but it was filed beyond 90 days from the date of arrest which was on October 10, 2008. Most of the other grounds pleaded were challenging the correctness of the 11 findings of the learned Special Judge. The application filed in the High Court was rejected by judgment dated March 12, 2010 which has given rise to the present appeal.

According to the learned counsel after the appellant was finally arrested on October 23, 2008, ATS had not made any effort to comply with the provisions of Section 50-A of the Code of Criminal Procedure nor the ATS had enlightened the appellant about the grounds/reasons of her arrest and her right to engage a lawyer, but on the contrary till November 2, 2008, ATS had denied to the appellant 17 access to any lawyer and also to her relations when she was at Kala Chowki Police Station though she was remanded to police custody for eight days on October 24, 2008 and, therefore, case of illegal custody, as pleaded by the appellant, should have been accepted by the Court. It was pointed out that the first meeting of the appellant with her immediate relation, i.e., her sister took place only on the evening of Sunday, i.e., November 2, 2008, when a blank Vakalatnama tendered by her sister was allowed to be signed in the ATS Police Station at Kala Chowki and, therefore, the case of illegal custody pleaded by the appellant could not have been disbelieved by the High Court.

According to the appellant there was no written notice requiring her attendance to appear for any investigation or interrogation. The further argument of the appellant is that absence of a written notice requiring her attendance for interrogation would establish that she was kept in illegal custody by officers of A.T.S., Mumbai. However, according to the prosecution, she had agreed to come to Surat and Bombay and therefore the point of issuance or non-

As this Court has come to the conclusion that the appellant was arrested on October 23, 2008, the appeal is liable to be dismissed. However, alleged violation of Section 160 of Criminal Procedure Code 30 and allegations of torture etc. are argued by the learned counsel for appellant at length and, therefore, this Court proposes to advert to the same at this stage itself.

arrest stage. Once a person is arrested and is in judicial custody the prayer for Bail will have to be considered on merits. Prayer for Bail cannot be automatically granted on establishing that there was procedural breach irrespective of, the merits of matter.

24. According to the appellant, she was arrested on October 10, 2008 and was not produced within 24 hours of her arrest and, therefore, she is entitled to be released from custody.

It is not available against custody in jail of a person pursuant to a judicial order. Article 22(2) does not operate against the judicial order.

Having regard to the totality of the facts and circumstances of the case, this Court is of the opinion that question of violation of Article 22(2) does not arise.

31. The result of the above discussion is that this Court does not find any merits in the present appeal and the same is liable to be dismissed.

Therefore, the appeal fails and is dismissed.

September 23, 2011.