Court No. - 74
Case :- APPLICATION U/S 482 No. - 3126 of 2021 Applicant :- Yugal Pratap Singh Opposite Party :- State Of U.P. And 3 Others Counsel for Applicant :- Ashutosh Pratap Singh,Lokendra Pratap Singh Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.
Hon'ble J.J. Munir,J.
Order on Criminal Misc. Urgency Application No. nil of 2021 Let this application be numbered by the office.
This urgency application has been moved in Court today on ground that the order of this Court dated 25.03.2021 was required to be complied with which has been complied with and a personal affidavit of the Superintendent of Police is proposed to be filed on behalf of the State. It is pointed out that vide order dated 25.03.2021 this matter has been scheduled as time fixed at 02:00 p.m. today.
The application is allowed and the case is ordered to be included in the day's additional cause list.
Order on Memo of Application U/S 482 Cr.P.C.
An affidavit of compliance has been filed by Ajay Kumar, Superintendent of Police, Firozabad which is a personal affidavit of the officer. A perusal of the said affidavit shows that opposite party no. 4, Ram Khilari Singh s/o Lokendra Pal Singh has surrendered before the Chief Judicial Magistrate on 03.04.2021. A xerox copy of the surrender report has been annexed. The said affidavit is accepted on record.
Now, that all the accused are in custody, this Court proceeds to consider the prayer regarding the direction to expedite trial of Case No. 4217 of 2018, Yugal Pratap Singh vs. Ritu Yaduvanshi and others (arising out of Case Crime No. 1034 of 2017) under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471 I.P.C. pending before the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Firozabad.
Considering the entire facts and circumstances, this Court is minded to expedite proceedings, but at the same time Mr. Sudhir Mehrotra, learned Special Counsel for the High Court and Mr. S.S.Tiwari, the learned A.G.A. point out that there is some difficulty regarding conduct of trials in the Subordinate Courts in view of a Circular issued by this Court on the administrative side. That circular issued by the Registrar General bears Letter No. 1941/LXXXVII-CPC/e- Courts/Allahabad/Dated: 05 April 2021. Mr. Mehrotra has placed the said circular before the Court. The first paragraph of the guidelines clearly indicate that recording of evidence in trial of cases is excluded from all work that is permitted to be done to the Courts during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. However, the District Judge/Principal Judge, Family Court has been authorized in appropriate cases to permit the recording of evidence.
Since, in this case the accused are now in jail and earlier due to their absence trial had been held up, this Court is of opinion that the trial should now proceed. If the administrative circular permits the learned District Judge to permit recording of evidence in appropriate cases, it certainly does not and cannot hinder this Court on the judicial side from issuing an appropriate direction, given the circumstances of a case.
The learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Firozabad is directed to proceed with trial of Case No. 4217 of 2018, Yugal Pratap Singh vs. Ritu Yaduvanshi and others (arising out of Case Crime No. 1034 of 2017) under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471 I.P.C., Police Station Narkhi, District Firozabad fixing at least two dates every week and endeavour to conclude the same within a period of three months next. While doing so, the Trial Court will bear due caution vis-a-vis the Covid-19 safety protocol and adopt a suitable and safe course for the purpose of recording evidence under the directions of the learned District Judge, Firozabad.
The Superintendent of Police, Firozabad is directed to ensure that all witnesses, who are summoned by the Trial Court shall be produced on the dates fixed in the processes and if for some unavoidable contingency related to Covid-19 protocol production of a particular witness is found difficult, suitable adjournment shall be granted by the Trial Court but not beyond time that is necessary to surmount the difficulty caused by such a contingency.
This application is, accordingly, disposed of, in terms of the aforesaid orders.
Let a copy of this order be communicated to the learned District and Sessions Judge, Firozabad, the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Firozabad and the Superintendent of Police, Firozabad by the Joint Registrar (compliance) within 24 hours.
Order Date :- 6.4.2021 Brijesh Maurya