HC orders arrest of Punjab ASI to ensure his presence in court
CHANDIGARH : The Punjab and Haryana high court has directed the senior superintendent of police (SSP), Tarn Taran, to take a cop (ASI) in custody and ensure his presence before a trial court, if he plays truant again.
The cop, an assistant sub-inspector (ASI), was an investigating officer in a 2014 criminal case but had not appeared before the trial court even as arrest warrants were issued against him in 2017.
“In the present case, the trial court has shown complete helplessness in securing the presence of ASI Kewal Singh to depose as a prosecution witness. In fact, by closing the prosecution evidence and dismissing the application under Section 311 CRPC, it is the complainant who has been penalised for the act and conduct of the state. The trial court should have taken coercive steps to secure the presence of the unexamined witness,” the bench of justice Jasjit Singh Bedi said while quashing the 2017 orders of the trial court whereby witness examination of the petitioner complainant was closed as the cop did not appear. As per Section 311 CRPC, the trial court has ample powers to summon a material witness or recall and re-examine any person already examined if his evidence appears to be essential for the just decision of the case.
The petitioner complainant, Faqir Chand had got an FIR registered in July 2014 of house trespass, and voluntary causing hurt, among other offences at Khem Karan police station in Tarn Taran. When the trial was underway in 2017, the judicial magistrate, Patti, closed the evidence of the complainant and when he filed an application to secure the presence of the cop in question, it was dismissed. It was this order, Chand had challenged in the high court. As per proceedings before HC, the petitioner said official witnesses including, Kewal Singh were not coming forward to record their statements. Bailable warrants were issued but he played truant. In August 2017, the trial court issued arrest warrants, but the ASI did not appear again for September 2017 hearing. In October 2017, when police failed to ensure his presence again, the court instead of adopting coercive steps closed the prosecution evidence. The petitioner in HC argued that the examination of the investigating officer is essential for the proper adjudication of the trial. But the ASI deliberately chose not to appear. The petitioner is a complainant and cannot be penalized for the act and conduct of the state is not presenting the cop as a prosecution witness, it was argued.
The HC has now asserted that the trial court is not powerless where it finds that there is laxity on the part of the prosecution to produce its witnesses. “In fact, the court ought to adopt coercive steps to secure the presence of unexamined prosecution witnesses, more so, when they happen to be official witnesses,” the bench said quashing the trial court order on witness closure and asking the court to examine the cop on the next date of hearing. The court has now made it clear that if he does not appear and chooses not to appear, the SSP would take him into custody and produce him in court. The court also directed to complete the trial within eight weeks.