TMI Blog1987 (1) TMI 481X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e, against any judgment, sentence or order rendered under the Act, an appeal would lie directly to the Supreme Court and not to the High Court. Having regard to all these features the investigation of cases under the Act has not only to be thorough but also of a high order. In this case we find the investigation to be nowhere near the required standards and likewise the evidence adduced in the case to be far from satisfactory to justify the conviction of the appellant under Section 4 of the Act. The appeal has, therefore, to be necessarily allowed and the conviction and sentence awarded to the appellant set aside. - Criminal Appeal No. 222 Of 1986 - - - Dated:- 20-1-1987 - A. P. SEN AND S.NATRAJAN, JJ. For the Appellant : Harbans Lal and G.K. Bansal For the Respondent: V.C. Mahajan and C.V. Subba Rao JUDGMENT The Judgment of the Court was delivered by NATARAJAN, J. While allowing this appeal and setting aside the conviction of the appellant Balbir Singh under Section 4 of the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1985 (in short the Act ) by our order dated 30.10.86 we had stated that the reasons for our judgment will follow. We now proceed to give ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Punjab by sacrificing the interests and welfare of the people of Haryana and further stated that if the people of Haryana want to protect their rights they should also resort to the ways and methods adopted by the Punjab extremists and that for his part he was prepared to lead their struggle since he had an eight-chamber revolver and that he had on earlier occasion attempted to kill Ch. Bhajan Lal, Chief Minister of Haryana and hence the demonstrators may lend him their cooperation so that the Government can be forced to safeguard the interests of the people of Haryana. P.Ws. 1 and 2, who were on intelligence duty, carefully listened to the speech and on the next morning P.W. 1 presented a report (Exhibit P.A.) at the Police Station at Nissing. Thereupon a case was registered against the appellant under Section 4 of the Act and after completion of investigation he was charge-sheeted in the Court of Shri S.K. Jain, Judge, Karnal, the Designated Court under the Act. As already stated the prosecution rested its case on the testimony of P.Ws. 1 and 2, they being the material witnesses. The appellant denied the prosecution case and stated in defence that on compassionate grounds he ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... secution that the demonstrators became violent and attempted to cause damage to the raiway line and in order to safeguard the railway property and maintain law and order the police force, assembled in adequate numbers, had resorted to lathi charge four or five times during the day and in addition the police had also to fire tear-gas shells and even to resort to shooting. One man had died on account of the shooting and several persons had sustained injuries on account of the lathi charge. Neverthless the crowd had not dispersed but continued to remain at the scene to carry on their agitation. In such circumstances it is natural to expect the police force to have remained, in strength at the scene to maintain effective control over the demonstrators and to safeguard the railway line. Curiously enough, the entire force comprised of a Deputy Superintendent of Police, Inspectors, Sub-Inspectors, Assistant Sub-Inspectors, Head Constables and Constables is said to have left the place en-masse except P.Ws. 1 and 2. It is significant to note P.Ws. 1 and 2 were not on security duty at that place but were only there to submit intelligence reports. When a lathi charge had been made even at 4.3 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... pared on the basis of the "rough notes" prepared by P.W. 1 but the "rough notes" is not forthcoming and has not been marked in evidence and it is said to have been destroyed. Since the "rough notes" constitute the first recorded entry of the speech it is an important document and in the absence of it the fair report cannot be given unreserved acceptance. Even in the matter of the preparation of the report, one would expect P.W. 2 holding a higher rank than P.W. 1 to have prepared it. Not only has P.W. 2 not prepared any report but his own admission is that he did not sign or even initial the "rough notes" or the fair report Exhibit P.A. Apart from the failings in the evidence of P.Ws. 1 and 2 we also find that virtually no investigation has been done before the appellant was charge-sheeted. The Investigating Officer has not taken any steps to find out the antecedants of the appellant and whether he was a member of any political party. No investigation has been made to find out whether the appellant had an eight-chamber revolver as he is alleged to have claimed and whether he had made any attempt on the life of Ch. Bhajan Lal on an earlier occasion. Without making any effective in ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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