UP Court Recommends Inquiry Against Cop Who Mistook Magistrate For Accused In Proclamation Order

Not only did Sub-inspector Banwarilal confuse a proclamation order issued by the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Nagma Khan under Section 82 CrPC for a Non-Bailable Warrant (NBW), but he also unsuccessfully ended up tracking the Additional CJM instead of the actual accused (one Rajkumar alias Pappu).

The matter came to light when the SI concerned submitted a report in the Court stating he had attempted to serve an NBW on a woman named 'Nagma Khan' (the Judge) at the mentioned address, but failed to locate her.

Earlier, the Magistrate had issued a proclamation against the accused, Rajkumar alias Pappu, and the Sub-Inspector was supposed to act on it concerning the named accused. However, in an apparent blunder, he mistakenly searched for the Judge, mistaking her for the accused (Rajkumar).

In his report submitted to the Court on March 23, SI Banwarilal wrote in Hindi:

"संलग्न NBW की तामील मुझ उप. लि. द्वारा की गयी तो नगमा खान को अंकिल पते पर काफी तलाश किया गया तो उक्त पते पर इस नाम की कोई अभियुक्ता नही रहती है। अतः महोदय से अनुरोध है कि अग्रिम आदेश पारित करने की कृपा करे। रिपोर्ट सादर सेवा में प्रेषित है। बनवारी लाल उप.नि. थाना-उत्तर जनपद-फिरोजाबाद" ["The enclosed NBW was served by me, the Sub-Inspector. Nagma Khan was extensively searched for at the mentioned address, but no such accused by this name resides at that address. Therefore, I request you, Sir, to kindly pass further orders. The report is respectfully submitted for your perusal– Banwarilal, Sub-Inspector, PS North, District Firozabad]

Alarmed by the said report, Additional CJM Khan, issued a strong rebuke and observed thus:

“It is quite bizarre that the serving officer of the concerned Police Station has little to no idea of what was sent by this court, who exactly sent it and against whom…“Lo! He has made the judge issuing the proclamation an accused in the case pending in this court at least on the process”

Furthermore, calling it a case of “gross dereliction of duty” and accusing the officer of "lacking basic knowledge of what was asked in the proclamation on his part,” the Court also called into question his carelessness in mentioning the proclamation as an NBW and writing the name of the presiding officer in the same “quite blindly.”

“The facts beforehand patently depicts he made zero efforts to pay heed to the process of this court. He has indicated utter neglect and carelessness in his duties. It shows gross dereliction of duty on his part.”

The Court remarked that if such negligent police officials are allowed to serve processes blindly without facing consequences, they will trample on individuals' fundamental rights to liberty while they act on their “whims and fancies” with impunity.

Thus, considering the gravity and seriousness of the matter and the “sheer outright negligence” on the part of the police person concerned, the Magistrate Court opined that a necessary enquiry must be conducted in the matter.

For the said purposes, the Court directed that a copy of its order be thus sent to the IG Agra Range for “necessary action and enquiry so that such unwarranted acts are never repeated in future”. A copy of the order has also been forwarded to the DGP.