TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (1) TMI 1811
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.... the present case has been lodged on the statement of the complainant, namely, Arvind Kumar. It was alleged that he received an SMS on his mobile phone No.9216020505 for loan, which contained a link. Upon clicking, an application of Hugo loan was opened, which requested his access and he allowed. He filled up his details and his loan eligibility was shown as of Rs. 3,500/-. He did not require the loan and hence, he uninstalled the application, but thereafter, he received a whatsapp call from numbers +37125218379, +6283146262636, +919910429137 and was threatened by demanding money. He was told that access of his gallery and contact was with them. Thereafter, they started sending his and his family members nude photos after morphing through whatsapp and started demanding money. Thereafter, he received a call from phone No.7015153485 that if he would not give the money, then his photos would be made viral. The payment link was sent to him. Out of fear, he sent Rs.2,045/- on 24.08.2022 and Rs.3,500/- Rs.3,500/- on 30.08.2022. Despite that, threat of making his photos viral kept on coming and demand of money continued. He prayed that as he was being blackmailed, action be taken against ....
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....f arrest and he cannot be denied the right to consult and to be defended by a legal practitioner of his choice. He submits that relevant provisions enshrined in the Cr.P.C. are Section 50, 41 and 41-A Cr.P.C. It has been submitted that as per the provisions of Section 41-A Cr.P.C., it is mandatory for the police officer to issue notice to a person before his arrest as per the settled proposition of law, however, neither the petitioner was apprised of grounds of arrest nor he was provided any opportunity to seek legal assistance and thus, he was arrested in blatant violation of law of land. While relying upon the law settled by Hon'ble Supreme Court in Prabir Purkayastha vs. State (NCT of Delhi), (2024) 8 SCC 254; Pranav Kuckreja (in Police Custody) vs. State (NCT of Delhi), passed in W.P.(CRL) No.3476/2024 on 18.11.2024; Hem Prabhakar Shah vs. The State of Maharashtra, 2024 SCC OnLine Bom 3006 and Satender Kumar Antil vs. Central Bureau of Investigation and another, (2022) 10 SCC 51, he has submitted that requirement to communicate the ground of arrest or the grounds of detention in writing, to a person arrested in connection with an offence as provided under Article 22 (1) and 22 ....
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....f law deserves to be set aside and the petitioner deserves to be set at liberty. 5. Learned Senior Counsel appearing for UT, Chandigarh has vehemently opposed the submissions made by learned Senior Counsel for the petitioner. He has submitted that the case in hand is of sensitive nature and the petitioner before this Court is the master mind of the offence committed. He submits that the offence in the present case was committed with deep rooted conspiracy with the handlers located in China. He submits that after registration of the FIR, the Investigating Agency recorded statement of the complainant and the Customer Acquisition Form (CAF) and Call Detail Record (CDR) of mobile number 7015153485 were obtained and these were found to be in the name of Gyandeep son of Sukbir Singh resident of Rewari. He submits that letter was sent to Google to obtain information about the Hugo Loan application and on receiving the information, it led to the discovery that the Hugo Loan application was registered in China with the IP detail also traced to Singapore and China. He submits that based on the calling number 7015153485, six persons were found at the location engaged in calling operations ....
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....her submitted that the petitioner alongwith his wife was staying in Jaypee Siddharth Hotel, where his wife was communicated the grounds of arrest of the petitioner through notice. Learned Senior Counsel has submitted that the argument raised by learned Senior Counsel for the petitioner that mandatory notice under Section 41-A Cr.P.C. was not served upon the petitioner, is totally misconceived. He has drawn the attention of this Court to the provisions of Sections 41 and 41-A Cr.P.C. It has been submitted that as per mandate of Section 41-A Cr.P.C., where arrest of a person is not required under the provisions of Sub Section (1) of Section 41, it is then the provisions of Section 41-A Cr.P.C. are to be invoked. However, as per the provisions of Section 41 Cr.P.C., the Police has the power to arrest a person without warrant subject to conditions as enshrined under Section 41(1)(b) Cr.P.C. He submits that all the conditions enshrined in the aforesaid mentioned Sections, were fulfilled and thus, arrest of the petitioner was essential in this case. He, thus, submits that as the arrest of the person was required under Sub Section (1) of Section 41 Cr.P.C., hence, Section 41-A Cr.P.C. is ....
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....egality whatsoever in the arrest and the remand order of the petitioner, the present petition being devoid of any merit deserves to be dismissed. 6. The Court has heard Senior counsel for both the sides and perused the record with their able assistance. The precise issue involved in the present case is whether the arrest of the petitioner on 31.12.2024 and remand order, are sustainable in the eyes of law or not. To answer the same, relevant provision for the appreciation is Article 22 of the Constitution of India, which reads as under:- "22. Protection against arrest and detention in certain cases:- (1) No person who is arrested shall be detained in custody without being informed, as soon as may be, of the grounds for such arrest nor shall he be denied the right to consult, and to be defended by, a legal practitioner of his choice. (2) Every person who is arrested and detained in custody shall be produced before the nearest magistrate within a period of twenty-four hours of such arrest excluding the time necessary for the journey from the place of arrest to the court of the magistrate and no such person shall be detained in custody beyond the said peri....
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....erson arresting any person without warrant shall forthwith communicate to him full particulars of the offence for which he is arrested or other grounds for such arrest. (2) Where a police officer arrests without warrant any person other than a person accused of a non-bailable offence, he shall inform the person arrested that he is entitled to be released on bail and that he may arrange for sureties on his behalf." 8. The main thrust of learned Senior Counsel for the petitioner is to the effect that the petitioner was not made aware with the grounds of arrest on the basis of which he has been arrested. He has submitted that as per law settled, reasons of arrest and grounds of arrest are two different terms and the same have been answered by Hon'ble Supreme Court in para No.48 of Prabir Purkayastha's case (supra), which reads as under:- 48. It may be reiterated at the cost of repetition that there is a significant difference in the phrase 'reasons for arrest' and 'grounds of arrest'. The 'reasons for arrest' as indicated in the arrest memo are purely formal parameters, viz., to prevent the accused person from committing any further offence; for proper investigati....
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....Manoj Rathore and Puneet Kumar. The petitioner was produced before learned Illaqa Magistrate on 30.12.2024 and the remand application with details of the grounds were duly mentioned. Learned Magistrate on drawing his satisfaction granted the police remand of three days vide impugned order dated 30.12.2024. As submitted by learned Senior Counsel for the petitioner, Hon'ble Supreme Court in Satender Kumar Antil's case (supra) had given directions, which are as follows:- "Summary/Conclusion 100. In conclusion, we would like to issue certain directions. These directions are meant for the investigating agencies and also for the courts. Accordingly, we deem it appropriate to issue the following directions, which may be subject to State amendments.: 100.1. The Government of India may consider the introduction of a separate enactment in the nature of a Bail Act so as to streamline the grant of bails. 100.2. The investigating agencies and their officers are duty-bound to comply with the mandate of Section 41 and 41-A of the Code and the directions issued by this Court in Arnesh Kumar (supra). Any dereliction on their part has to be brought to the notice o....
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.... All State Governments, Union Territories and High Courts are directed to file affidavits/ status reports within a period of four months." 10. Perusal of the record would show that the Investigating Agency has duly taken care of the compliance of the directions issued by the Hon'ble Supreme Court. Regarding the issue raised by learned Senior Counsel for the petitioner for violation of Section 41-A Cr.P.C., both the Sections 41 and 41-A Cr.P.C. are relevant, which read as under:- 41. When police may arrest without warrant. "(1) Any police officer may without an order from a Magistrate and without a warrant, arrest any person - (a) who commits, in the presence of a police office, a cognizable offence; (b) against whom a reasonable complaint has been made, or credible information has been received, or a reasonable suspicion exists that he has committed a cognizable offence punishable with imprisonment for a term which may be less than seven years or which may extend to seven years whether with or without fine, if the following conditions are satisfied, namely :- (i) the police has reason to believe on the basis of such complaint, informa....
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....able to be apprehended or detained in custody in India; or (h) who, being a released convict, commits a breach of any rule, made under sub-section (5) of section 356; or (i) for whose arrest any requisition, whether written or oral, has been received from another police officer, provided that the requisition specifies the person to be arrested and the offence or other cause for which the arrest is to be made and it appears therefrom that the person might lawfully be arrested without a warrant by the officer who issued the requisition. [(2) Subject to the provisions of Section 42, no person concerned in a non-cognisable offence or against whom a complaint has been made or credible information has been received or reasonable suspicion exists of his having so concerned, shall be arrested accept under a warrant or order of a Magistrate.] [41A. Notice of appearance before police officer - (1) The police officer shall, in all cases where the arrest of a person is not required under the provisions of sub-section (1) of Section 41, issue a notice directing the person against whom a reasonable complaint has been made, or credible information has ....
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....vent the accused from causing the evidence of the offence to disappear; or tampering with such evidence in any manner; or to prevent such person from making any inducement, threat or promise to a witness so as to dissuade him from disclosing such facts to the Court or the police officer; or unless such accused person is arrested, his presence in the court whenever required cannot be ensured. These are the conclusions, which one may reach based on facts." 12. The requirement of arrest of the petitioner was recorded by the Investigating Officer in the case diary, thus, there was no occasion for the Investigating Agency to issue any notice to the petitioner under Section 41- A Cr.P.C. It is apposite to note that counsel for the petitioner was allowed to inspect the record and after having been granted the police remand on 30.12.2024, two more remand orders dated 02.01.2025 and 05.01.2025 were passed, wherein remand of 3 days and 5 days respectively, were granted by learned Magistrate. While granting these two remands, the petitioner was duly represented by his counsel. The record further shows that complicity of the petitioner is not only in the present case, but he is involved in ....
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....gislature which was not subject to constitutional rights and limitations; yet it recognized the inherent power in Section 561A. Post- Independence, the recognition by Parliament, of the inherent power of the High Court must be construed as an aid to preserve the constitutional value of liberty. The writ of liberty runs through the fabric of the Constitution. The need to ensure the fair investigation of crime is undoubtedly important in itself, because it protects at one level the rights of the victim and, at a more fundamental level, the societal interest in ensuring that crime is investigated and dealt with in accordance with law. On the other hand, the misuse of the criminal law is a matter of which the High Court and the lower Courts in this country must be alive. In the present case, the High Court could not but have been cognizant of the specific ground which was raised before it by the appellant that he was being made a target as a part of a series of occurrences which have been taking place since April 2020. The specific case of the appellant is that he has been targeted because his opinions on his television channel are unpalatable to authority. Whether the appellant has es....