9911796707
TMI Blog1987 (1) TMI 481X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r our judgment. The appellant who holds the degrees of M.A. and B.T. was originally a Lieutenant in the Armed Forces. On account of some mental ailment he was discharged from the Army. Thereafter he joined the Haryana Education Department and was appointed as a Lecturer in the Government Higher Secondary School at Siwah. After about 7 years of service in that School he was transferred to the Government Senior Secondary School at Sanauli Khurd. He, however, continued to reside at Siwah since he could not get accommodation at Sanauli Khurd. The circumstances under which the appellant has come to be convicted under Section 4 of the Act are to be found in the evidence of two prosecution witnesses viz. P.W.I Jagdish Chander, a Police Constable ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... condemned the actions of the Central Government and the State Government in trying to appease the rebel elements and extremists of 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 d ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... riticisms against the prosecution case and submitted that the learned Judge of the Designated Court ought not to have acted on the testimony of P.Ws. 1 and 2 and convicted the appellant. The learned counsel took us through the evidence of P.Ws. 1 and 2 and also the relevant portions of the judgment under appeal and adverted to several infirmities in the evidence of the witnesses and also drew our attention to the lack of credible evidence in the case. Section 16 of the Act provides for an appeal against a judgment rendered by a Designated Court to the Supreme Court alone and to no other court. Consequently, this appeal constitutes the first appeal as well as the final appeal against the judgment of the Designated Court. Such being the case ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 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 4.30 P.M. it is inconceivable that the entire police force would have left the place in the evening and gone away elsewhere. We are, therefore, led to think that this unnatural version is put forward to cover up the lacuna for not examining any police officer of a higher rank than P.Ws. 1 and 2 regarding the inflammatory speec ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... .W. 2 has stated that the appellant stood in the midst of the demonstrators and addressed them and moreover P.W.2 makes no reference to the appellant having any microphone. While P.W. 2 has stated that he did not apprehend any violent reaction from the public on account of the speech made by the appellant, P.W.i would say that from the moment the appellant started introducing himself to the demonstrators he anticipated things and began to take notes of the appellant's speech. A noticeable feature in the case ifs that the report Exhibit P.A. is said to have been prepared 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. Sin ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... We are constrained to observe that it is highly regrettable that the authorities concerned should have launched a prosecution under the Act in a manner which can be easily termed as cavalier. The Act though intended to effectively deal with terrorists and disruptionists contains drastic provisions for punishing terrorists and disruptionists under Sections 3 and 4 of the Act. Anyone convicted under Section 3(2)(i) of the Act is liable to be punished with death and whoever is convicted under Section 3(2)(ii) of the Act is liable to be punished with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than 5 years but which may extend to term of life and shall also be liable to fine. Whoever is convicted under Section 4 of the Act is liable to be ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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