Sohan @ Awadhesh Kumar v. The State Of Bihar And ORS

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA

Criminal Writ Jurisdiction Case No.294 of 2015 ====================================================== Sohan @ Awadhesh Kumar, son of Babu Ram Kushwaha, resident of village Shivanaha, P.S. Balmiki Nagar, District- West Champaran .... .... Petitioner/s

Versus

1. The State of Bihar

2. The Principal Secretary, Home Department, Govt. of Bihar, Main Secretariat, Patna

3. The District Magistrate, Patna

4. The District Magistrate, West Champaran

5. The Superintendent of Police, West Champaran

6. The Superintendent of Police, Patna

7. The Incharge, Remand Home, Patna

8. Chinta Kumari @ Chinta Devi D/o Nand Lal Ram C/o in Area Remand Home, Patna .... .... Respondent/s ====================================================== Appearance :

For the Petitioner : Mr. Prithvi Nath Mishra For the State : Mr. Manikant Mishra GA-25 ====================================================== CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE RAMESH KUMAR DATTA And HONOURABLE JUSTICE SMT. ANJANA MISHRA ORAL ORDER (Per: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE RAMESH KUMAR DATTA) 28-04-2015 Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and learned counsel for the State.

The application has been filed by the petitioner for issuance of a writ of habeas corpus with respect to one Chinta Kumari alias Chinta Devi, daughter of Nandlal Ram claiming to be her husband.

It is not in dispute that the father of the girl Chinta Kumari had lodged the FIR being Balmikinagar P.S.Case No. 24/2014 dated 29.5.2014 under Sections 366A, 372/34 of the

Patna High Court Cr. WJC No.294 of 2015 (2) dt.28-04-2015 2/3 Indian Penal Code and Section 3(I)(XII) of the SC/ST Act against the petitioner and his family members and others. The petitioner was arrested and the girl was also examined under Section 164 Cr.P.C. in which she gave her age as 20 years, whereas the Medical Board has judged her age as 14-15 years which also corresponds to the stand of the father of the girl in the FIR that she was a student of Class-VII. The girl accepted that she had gone on her own with the petitioner and married him at Ludhiana and has refused to go to her parents home and by the order dated 10.7.

2014 of the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate she has been sent to remand home against which a revision petition was filed before the District & Sessions Judge, West Champaran, Bettiah which has also been dismissed by order dated 12.1.2015. Learned counsel for the petitioner seeks to rely upon a decision of a Division Bench of this Court in the case of Sobha Kumari Vs. State of Bihar & Ors.: 2015 (1) PLJR 603. In our view, the girl having been sent to remand home by order of a Court of law which has also been tested in revision, it cannot be held that the detention is illegal so as to invoke the jurisdiction of this Court by issuance of a writ of habeas corpus, that too, at the behest of the petitioner who is the principal accused in the FIR.

Patna High Court Cr. WJC No.294 of 2015 (2) dt.28-04-2015 3/3 The writ application is, accordingly, dismissed. (Ramesh Kumar Datta, J) (Anjana Mishra, J) S.Pandey/- U