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2017 (1) TMI 1683 - SC - Indian LawsJurisdiction - power of High Court to restraint the investigating agency not to arrest the accused persons during the course of investigation - Whether the High Court while refusing to exercise inherent powers Under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Code of Criminal Procedure) to interfere in an application for quashment of the investigation, can restrain the investigating agency not to arrest the accused persons during the course of investigation? HELD THAT:- There can be no dispute over the proposition that inherent power in a matter of quashment of FIR has to be exercised sparingly and with caution and when and only when such exercise is justified by the test specifically laid down in the provision itself. There is no denial of the fact that the power Under Section 482 Code of Criminal Procedure is very wide but it needs no special emphasis to state that conferment of wide power requires the court to be more cautious. It casts an onerous and more diligent duty on the Court. In the instant case, the High Court has not referred to allegations made in the FIR or what has come out in the investigation. It has noted and correctly that the investigation is in progress and it is not appropriate to stay the investigation of the case. It has disposed of the application Under Section 482 Code of Criminal Procedure and while doing that it has directed that the investigating agency shall not arrest the accused persons. This direction "amounts" to an order Under Section 438 Code of Criminal Procedure, albeit without satisfaction of the conditions of the said provision. This is legally unacceptable. In RANJIT SINGH VERSUS STATE OF M.P. AND ORS. [2013 (9) TMI 1240 - SUPREME COURT] the High Court had directed that considering the nature of the allegation and the evidence collected in the case-diary, the Petitioner shall surrender before the competent court and shall apply for regular bail and the same shall be considered upon furnishing necessary bail bond. The said order was challenged before this Court. In Hema Mishra v. State of Uttar Pradesh and Ors. HEMA MISHRA VERSUS STATE OF UP [2014 (1) TMI 1771 - SUPREME COURT], the Court was dealing with the power of the High Court of Allahabad pertaining to grant of pre-arrest bail in exercise of extraordinary or inherent jurisdiction and it is significant, for in the State of Uttar Pradesh Section 438 Code of Criminal Procedure has been deleted by the State Legislature - Be it noted that constitutional validity of the said deletion was challenged before the Constitution Bench in KARTAR SINGH VERSUS STATE OF PUNJAB [1994 (3) TMI 379 - SUPREME COURT] wherein it has been held that deletion of the application of Section 438 Code of Criminal Procedure in the State of Uttar Pradesh is constitutional. Presently we can only say that the types of orders like the present one, are totally unsustainable, for it is contrary to the aforesaid settled principles and judicial precedents. It is intellectual truancy to avoid the precedents and issue directions which are not in consonance with law. It is the duty of a Judge to sustain the judicial balance and not to think of an order which can cause trauma to the process of adjudication. It should be borne in mind that the culture of adjudication is stabilized when intellectual discipline is maintained and further when such discipline constantly keeps guard on the mind. Appeal allowed.
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