Conducting Illegal Business Of Railway Ticket Booking Is Cognizable But Bailable Offence: Punjab & Haryana High Court

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has held that the offence of carrying illegal business of ticket booking under the Railways Act (Section 143) is bailable and cognizable, even when the Act does not explicitly declare the offense as "Bailable”.The Court thus granted anticipatory bail to the accused and explained,“Although the Railways Act, 1989 does not explicitly declare the offense under section 143 as 'Bailable” and despite the standing order No. 95 not declaring the offenses under Ss. 143 and 160 as bailable; and irrespective that when the sentence under Section 143 which extends up to three years, would make it fall in the middle row of the classification of offenses described in Part-II of BNSS, 2023 (Non-bailable), the offence under S. 143 is 'Bailable' because the power to arrest have been given only to the officers authorized by a notified order of the Central Government, and per proviso (a) to S. 180-D, when such authorized officer is of the opinion that there is sufficient evidence or reasonable ground of suspicion against the accused person, he has to release the accused on bail.”These observations were made while hearing the anticipatory bail plea of one Minku, who was accused of carrying illegal business of ticket booking, under Section 143 of the Railways Act. The Court of Additional Sessions Judge rejected his plea.After examining the submissions, the Court considered the question, “Is an offense punishable under S. 143 of the Railways Act, 1989, Cognizable and/or Non-Bailable?.”The Court noted that different view has been taken by various High Courts. The Delhi High Court, Munna Kumar v. State through NCT Delhi, [2005 (83) DRJ 92], disposed of the plea stating that it would be bailable.The Jharkhand High Court in Nishant Kumar Jaiswal @ Nishan Kumar v. The State of Jharkhand, [A B.A. No. 3374 of 2016] said, Chapter XV of the Railways Act, 1989, which deals with penalties and offences and starts from Section 137 and ends from Section 182, nowhere it provides that the offences are non-bailable.In view of the above law, the Court held that anticipatory bail application is thus, not maintainable for offence under Section 143 of the Act.A similar view was taken by the Patna High Court in Rakesh Kumar v. The State of Bihar.The judge further noted that Section 179 empowers an officer authorized by a notified order of the Central Government to arrest a person accused of committing an offense punishable under Section 143 of the Act, without a warrant or other written authority.“Simply because an accused can be arrested does not make the offense non- bailable. The difference is that when an offense is bailable, the accused must be released on bail after furnishing the applicable bail bonds,” opined the Court.The judge further highlighted that Since the Railways Act, 1989 is silent about the offense punishable under section 143 is bailable or non-bailable, the relevant provision that applies in such situations is Schedule I Part-II of BNSS, 2023, which same as it was under CrPC.Upon analysing the same, the Court found that, section 143 falls in the category “if punishable with imprisonment for 3 years and upwards but not more than 7 years”, it will be cognizable and non-bailable.“Even if an offense is non-bailable, to arrest or not to arrest is the discretion of the Investigator(s), and it is not necessary for the investigator(s) to mandatorily arrest unless the statute directs that such an accused committing a particular offense must be arrested,” said the Court.Furthermore reference was made to Section 180-D which prescribes “Inquiry how to be made against arrested person.”The proviso (a) to the section, states that if the officer authorised is of the opinion that there is sufficient evidence or reasonable ground of suspicion against the accused person, he shall either admit him to bail to appear before a Magistrate having jurisdiction in the case, or forward him in custody to such Magistrate.However, subsequent to the amendment introducing S. 180-D, the Ministry of Railways issued a standing order, which restricted the scope of S. 180-D by clarifying that offenses under the Railways Act are bailable except under Sections 143 and 160, noted the Court.The judge concluded that, “S. 179(1) of the Railways Act impliedly specifies that the offenses under Sections 150 to 152 will be treated as 'Cognizable' only when arrest without a warrant is made by a Railway Servant or a Police Officer of the rank of a Head Constable and above. Whereas, under S. 179(2), the offenses under Sections 137 to 139, 141 to 147, 150 to 157, 159 to 167, and 172 to 176 of the Railways Act will be treated as 'Cognizable' only when arrest without a warrant is made by an officer authorized by a notification order of the Central Government. Given the above, an offense punishable under S. 143 of the Railways Act, 1989, is 'Cognizable.'”It further opined that it will be bailable because, as per S. 180-D, when such authorized officer ...

Conducting Illegal Business Of Railway Ticket Booking Is Cognizable But Bailable Offence: Punjab & Haryana High Court

Aiman J. Chishti

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