Strict compliance with Section 82 CrPC is mandatory; proclamation without thirty days' notice is unsustainable.

A person cannot be declared a proclaimed person unless the proclamation strictly complies with Section 82 CrPC, including a prior warrant, reasons to believe absconding or concealment, proper publication, and a date of appearance at least thirty days after publication. Here, the proclamation was published on 06.11.2017 but appearance was fixed for 14.11.2017, so the statutory minimum period was not met. Mere later adjournment did not cure the defect because the proclamation had to be reissued and republished in accordance with law. The declaration and consequential proceedings were therefore unsustainable and were quashed.

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Issues: Whether the order declaring the petitioner a proclaimed person was liable to be quashed for non-compliance with the mandatory requirements of Section 82 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, including the minimum thirty days' time for appearance after publication of proclamation.

Analysis: Section 82 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 requires a prior warrant, a reason to believe that the person has absconded or is concealing himself, specification of a date and place of appearance not less than thirty days from publication, and publication in the manner prescribed by the provision. The record showed that proclamation was published on 06.11.2017 while appearance was fixed for 14.11.2017, so the statutory minimum period was not available. Mere adjournment of the case to later dates did not cure the defect, because the proclamation had to be reissued and republished in accordance with law. Non-compliance with the mandatory procedure rendered the declaration unsustainable.

Conclusion: The proclamation order declaring the petitioner a proclaimed person was illegal and was rightly quashed along with the consequential proceedings.

Ratio Decidendi: A person cannot be declared proclaimed person unless the proclamation is published in strict compliance with Section 82 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 and the date fixed for appearance is at least thirty days from the date of publication; non-compliance vitiates the declaration and subsequent proceedings.

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