High Court of Punjab and HaryanaCRM-M/22096/2025allowed

Mankirat Singh @ Mani v. State Of Punjab

2025-05-02Mr. Justice Sandeep Moudgil10 pages

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4 ,To the Station House Officer, Police Station Sarabha Nagar, Ludhiana. Jai Hind. Today, 1, ASI, along with ASI Gurdeep Singh No. 422/Ldh, S/Constable Gurpreet Singh No. 142/Ldh, S/Constable Ramandeep Singh No. 1932/Ludhiana, S/Constable Ranjit Singh No. 3419/Ludhiana, and Constable Baldev Singh No. 3807/Ludhiana, were present at a check point near Jhande Cut, near the railway line, Badowal, Ferozepur Road, Ludhiana, traveling in an official vehicle make Ertiga bearing registration

No. PB105FV55928, driven by S/Constable Rakesh Kumar No. 252/Ludhiana, in relation to search operations concerning suspicious individuals, suspicious vehicles, and narcotic smugglers. At around 12:15 PM, a Maruti Baleno car bearing registration No. PB085ET56293, silver grey in colour, was seen approaching from the Badowal side, which was being driven by a turbaned individual. I, ASI, signaled the driver to stop at the checkpoint. The said car driver stopped the vehicle approximately 10 to 15 steps before the checkpoint, turned the car around, and attempted to flee. At that moment, the car suddenly stalled. I, ASI, with the help of accompanying police personnel, chased and apprehended the above said car driver, made him step out of the vehicle, and inquired about his name and address.

Upon questioning, he disclosed his name as Mankirat Singh alias Mani, son of Baldev Singh, resident of Patti Daffar Ki, Village Post Office Sarih, Police Station Sadar Nakodar, District Jalandhar. Thereupon, I, ASI, Informed the said Mankirat Singh alias Mani, under Section 50 of the NDPS Act, that: "I, ASI Amarjit Kumar No. 1401/LDH, am posted at the Anti5Narcotic Cell, Ludhiana. I am wearing uniform, and my nameplate bearing my name is affixed on my worn uniform. I wish to conduct the search of you and the Maruti Baleno car bearing registration No. PB085ET56293, silver grey in colour, which is in your possession. You have the legal right that the search of your person and your vehicle can be conducted in the presence of a Gazetted Officer or a Magistrate, who can be requested to come to the spot without any delay."

Upon this, the above said Mankirat Singh alias Mani stated to me, ASI, that: "I have faith in you, you may conduct the search of me and the Maruti Baleno car bearing registration No. PB085ET56293. silver grey in colour, which is in my possession." Thereafter, under Section 50 of the NDPS Act. I, ASI, got a notice typed by Computer Operator S/Constable Ramandeep Singh No. 1932/Ludhiana and got it printed with the help of a printer. The said notice was read aloud to the accused, who, after hearing the same, acknowledged its contents and signed it in English. The signatures of the witnesses were also obtained thereon.

Before conducting the search of the accused Mankirat Singh alias Mani and the Maruti Baleno car bearing registration No. PB085 ET56293, silver grey in colour, in his possession, I, ASI, attempted to include 657 individuals passing by the spot as independent witnesses in the police party. However, each of them expressed their individual compulsions, and none were willing to become private witnesses. Thereafter, in the presence of official witnesses, I, ASI, conducted the search of the accused Mankirat Singh alias Mani and subsequently of the Maruti Baleno car in his possession, in accordance with the procedure. Upon search, from underneath the conductor5side seat of the car, one heavy black polythene packet was recovered. Upon opening and examining it based on experience, opium was found inside.

I, ASI, took out the electronic scale from the government vehicle and weighed the recovered opium along with the packet. Upon weighing, the opium was found to be 02 kilograms. Subsequently, I, ASI, placed the recovered 02 kilograms of opium along with the polythene packet in a plastic container, then placed the plastic container into a cloth bag, and prepared a sealed parcel of opium. The said parcel was sealed by me, ASI, with my seal bearing initials "A.K", and a separate sample seal impression was also prepared. After sealing, the sample seal was handed over to ASI Gurdeep Singh No. 422/ Ludhiana. I, ASI, took the above5sealed parcel of opium, sealed with "A.Κ", along with the specimen seal impression, into police possession through a recovery memo. The signatures of the witnesses were also obtained on the recovery memo.

Thereafter, 1. ASI. conducted a thorough search of the Maruti Baleno car bearing registration number PB085ET56293. silver grey in colour, in accordance with the prescribed procedure. During the search, the original Registration Certificate (RC) of the said vehicle was recovered from the car's dashboard. The RC contained the following details: Chassis No. MA3EWB22SMF709662, Engine No.

Baleno car along with the original RC into police possession through a separate seizure memo. The signatures of the witnesses were obtained on the memo. The accused Mankirat Singh alias Mani, by keeping 02 kilograms of opium in his possession, has committed an offence punishable under Sections 18B, 61, and 85 of the NDPS Act. In this regard, a ruqqa was prepared by me, ASI, with the help of my private laptop. The same was typed by S/Constable Ramandeep Singh No. 1932/Ludhiana, and printed by connecting a printer via the inverter kept in the vehicle. The ruqqa is now being sent through Constable Baldev Singh No. 3807/Ludhiana to Police Station Sarabha Nagar, Ludhiana, for the purpose of registration of an FIR. Kindly register the case and communicate the FIR number.

The Control Room is being informed via wireless, and special reports are being prepared and dispatched to the Area Magistrate and the Senior Officers concerned. I, ASI, along with the accompanying officials, am currently engaged in investigation at the spot. Location: Near railway line, Jhande Cut, Ferozepur Road, Ludhiana, Time: 02:45 PM Signed: ASI Amarjit Kumar No. 1401/LDH, Anti5Narcotics Cell, Ludhiana Date: 04.08.2024. Today, upon receipt of the aforementioned ruqqa at the police station, the said FIR has been registered against the accused Mankirat Singh alias Mani under the relevant provisions mentioned. The original ruqqa and a copy of the FIR are being sent along with Constable who brought Rukka in police station, to the concerned ASI at the spot for further investigation.

Special reports are being dispatched by hand through ASI Sarabjit Singh No. 494/Ludhiana to the Area Magistrate and the senior officers concerned. The Control Room has been duly informed. Report No.: 19 Time: 3:55 PM.'

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4 "2. A fundamental postulate of criminal jurisprudence is the presumption of innocence, meaning thereby that a person is believed to be innocent until found guilty. However, there are instances in our criminal law where a reverse onus has been placed on an accused with regard to some specific offences but that is another matter and does not detract from the fundamental postulate in respect of other offences. Yet another important facet of our criminal jurisprudence is that the grant of bail is the general rule and putting a person in jail or in a prison or in a correction home (whichever expression one may wish to use) is an exception. Unfortunately, some of these basic principles appear to have been lost sight of with the result that more and more persons are being incarcerated and for longer periods. This does not do any good to our criminal jurisprudence or to our society.

3. There is no doubt that the grant or denial of bail is entirely the discretion of the judge considering a case but even so, the exercise

of judicial discretion has been circumscribed by a large number of decisions rendered by this Court and by every High Court in the country. Yet, occasionally there is a necessity to introspect whether denying bail to an accused person is the right thing to do on the facts and in the circumstances of a case.

4. While so introspecting, among the factors that need to be considered is whether the accused was arrested during investigations when that person perhaps has the best opportunity to tamper with the evidence or influence witnesses. If the investigating officer does not find it necessary to arrest an accused person during investigations, a strong case should be made out for placing that person in judicial custody after a charge sheet is filed. Similarly, it is important to ascertain whether the accused was participating in the investigations to the satisfaction of the investigating officer and was not absconding or not appearing when required by the investigating officer.

Surely, if an accused is not hiding from the investigating officer or is hiding due to some genuine and expressed fear of being victimised, it would be a factor that a judge would need to consider in an appropriate case. It is also necessary for the judge to consider whether the accused is a first5time offender or has been accused of other offences and if so, the nature of such offences and his or her general conduct. The poverty or the deemed indigent status of an accused is also an extremely important factor and even Parliament has taken notice of it by incorporating an Explanation to section 436 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. An equally soft approach to incarceration has been taken by Parliament by inserting section 436A in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

5. To put it shortly, a humane attitude is required to be adopted by a judge, while dealing with an application for remanding a suspect or an accused person to police custody or judicial custody. There are several reasons for this including maintaining the dignity of an accused person, howsoever poor that person might be, the requirements of Article 21 of the Constitution and the fact that there is enormous overcrowding in prisons, leading to social and other problems as noticed by this Court in In Re5Inhuman

Conditions in 1382 Prisons, 2017(4) RCR (Criminal) 416: 2017(5) Recent Apex Judgments (R.A.J.) 408 : (2017) 10 SCC 658

6. The historical background of the provision for bail has been elaborately and lucidly explained in a recent decision delivered in Nikesh Tara chand Shah v. Union of India, 2017 (13) SCALE 609 going back to the days of the Magna Carta. In that decision, reference was made to Gurbaksh Singh Sibbia v. State of Punjab, (1980) 2 SCC 565 in which it is observed that it was held way back in Nagendra v. King5Emperor, AIR 1924 Calcutta 476 that bail is not to be withheld as a punishment. Reference was also made to Emperor v. Hutchinson, AIR 1931 Allahabad 356 wherein it was observed that grant of bail is the rule and refusal is the exception. The provision for bail is therefore age5old and the liberal interpretation to the provision for bail is almost a century old, going back to colonial days.

7. However, we should not be understood to mean that bail should be granted in every case. The grant or refusal of bail is entirely within the discretion of the judge hearing the matter and though that discretion is unfettered, it must be exercised judiciously and in a humane manner and compassionately. Also, conditions for the grant of bail ought not to be so strict as to be incapable of compliance, thereby making the grant of bail illusory." & ' ; #

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4 "7. An accused has a right to a fair trial and while a hurried trial is frowned upon as it may not give sufficient time to prepare for the defence, an inordinate delay in conclusion

of the trial would infringe the right of an accused guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution.

8. It is not for nothing the Author Oscar Wilde in "The Ballad of Reading Gaol", wrote the following poignant lines while being incarcerated:

"I know not whether Laws be right, Or whether Laws be wrong;

All that we know who be in jail Is that the wall is strong;

And that each day is like a year, A year whose days are long."

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anuradha Whether speaking/reasoned Yes/No Whether reportable Yes/No