Rajasthan High Court Raps Police Over 40-Year Lapse In Nabbing Accused, Orders Creation Of Special Cell To Trace Absconders

The Rajasthan High Court has issued direction to the Principal Secretary, Department of Home, Rajasthan and the Director General of Police to create a special cell for tracing out the absconding accused and proclaimed offenders to face trail, ensuring that the victims of the crime get timely justice.

The bench of Justice Anoop Kumar Dhand held that the police authorities were duty bound to trace the absconding accused across the nation and execute the arrest warrants so that the accused could be produced before the court for facing trial. They could not be allowed to take the plea that the accused was “untraceable”.

The Court was hearing a petition wherein the FIR was registered in 1983, and the bail bonds of the accused were forfeited in 1987 followed by issuance of arrest warrants against her. Yet, till date the police was not able to execute the warrants and produce the accused for trial.

The Court held, “Facts of the case depict a very gloomy picture of the Administration of Justice because in the case in hand surprisingly the police authorities are unable to apprehend the petitioner who is residing at the same place since last four decades…The petitioner's absence for last more than 38 years amounts to gross abuse of process of law.”

Now, the petitioner, who was facing trial for more than 40 years, had filed a petition for converting arrest warrants into bailable warrants, which was rejected by the trial court. It was argued that the petitioner was a rustic village lady, who was unaware of the pendency of criminal case against her. The case was being taken care of by her husband who expired in 2019.

While rejecting this application, the Court held that the instant case was an abuse of the process of law wherein proceedings were hampered for more than 40 years for want of appearance of the petitioner. Such a long period of absconding amounted to intimidating the witnesses to turn hostile and forget memories about the incident.

“If the contentions of the petitioner are allowed to stand then it would be a mockery of law and justice…Therefore, without participating in the investigation and trial, such type of mischievous criminals would have the last laugh and, would render the Administration of Justice vulnerable to the extent of frailty. Same is not permissible.”

The Court expressed pain over the situation where there were several accused whose bail bonds have been forfeited, and they were avoiding trials since long, resulting in hampered trial process.

It was stated that the police authorities failed to execute the arrest warrants without any justified reasons due to which the trial lingered for indefinite period. Hence, the Court held that warrants were not optional but legal order that the police must carry as part of their duty.

In this background, direction was issued for creation of the aforementioned special cell for tracing absconding accused and proclaimed offenders.

Title: Nathi Devi v State of Rajasthan

Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Raj) 373

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