TMI Blog1963 (3) TMI 63X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... night between the 7th and 8th November, 1958. The case was investigated by one Mohammad Naim who was then the Station Officer of Shahabad police station. The learned Additional Sessions judge convicted the accused persons though he found, on the evidence given in the case, that it was more probable that the first information was lodged at the police station at about 7 or 8 A.m. rather than at 3.30 A. M. From the conviction and sentences passed by the Additional Sessions judge there was an appeal to the High Court at Allahabad (Lucknow Bench). This appeal was heard by Mulla J. He found that Mohammad Naim had dressed' up a totally unbelievable case which destroyed the evidentiary value of the statements of Farasat Ali and his wife, Ummati Begum, two of the principal witnesses for the prosecution. The Learned judge allowed the appeal and set aside the conviction and sentences of the four appellants before him. The learned judge further observed in his judgment: There is ample evidence to prove that the first information report in this case was not lodged at 3.30 A. M. This is also the finding of trial court. The time noted in the first information report is, therefore, a fic ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ur dictionaries. It is for these reasons that I am accepting this apology and not filing any complaint against Mohmmad Naim. Where every fish barring perhaps a few stinks, it is idle to pick out one or two and say that it stinks. 1, therefore, discharge the notice issued against Shri Mohmmad Naim. The State of Uttar Pradesh felt aggrieved by some of the aforesaid observations and made an application under s. 561- A Code of Criminal Procedure for expunging them. The observations in respect of which the State of Uttar Pradesh felt aggrieved were grouped under heads (a), (b) and (c) in paragraph 4 of the petition which we may now set out here : (a) If I had felt that with my lone efforts I could have cleaned this augean stable, which is the police force, I would not have hesitated to wage this war singlehanded. (b) That there is not a single lawless group in the whole of the country whose record of crime comes anywhere near the record of that organised unit which is known as the Indian Police Force. (c) Where every fish barring perhaps a few stinks, it is idle to pick out one or two and say that it stinks. The main ground which the State of Uttar Pr ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... on the High Court. It merely safeguards all existing inherent powers possessed by a High Court necessary (among other purposes) to secure the ends of justice. The section provides that those powers which the court inherently possesses shall be preserved lest it be considered that the only powers possessed by the -court are those expressly conferred by the Code and that no inherent powers had survived the passing of the Code (see Jairam Das v.Emperor (A.I.R. (1945) P.C. 94.), and Emperor v. Nazir Ahmad (A.T.R. (1945) P.C. 18.)), We shall presently deal with the question whether the High Court has inherent power to expunge the remarks made by it or by a lower court to prevent abuse of the process of any court or otherwise to secure the ends of justice. Assuming that the High Court has such power, the question now before us is, can the State Government invoke this inherent jurisdiction of the High Court? The learned judge of the High Court gave two reasons for his finding that the State Government had no locus standi to make an application under s. 561-A Cr. P. C. The first reason he gave was that the State Government could not be said to have been aggrieved by the observations made ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ee why the State Government cannot make an application under s. 561-A. We see nothing anomalous in the State Government moving the court for redress when it feels aggrieved by remarks made against it, The State Government may make an application to the High Court under s. 561-A in the same way as it may direct the Public Prosecutor to present an appeal on its behalf to the High Court under s. 417 or may invoke through one of its officers the jurisdiction of the High Court under s. 439 of the Code. We have, therefore, come to the conclusion that the finding of the learned judge that the State Government has no locus standi to make the appli- cation under s. 561-A Cr. P.C. is erroneous in law. Our attention was drawn to some cases where the State Government made such applications in a pending appeal. No question was however raised therein whether the State Government had locus standi to make the applications; therefore, we have thought fit to decide the point on principle rather than on cases where such applications were made. The second point for consideration is this, has the High Court inherent power to expunge remarks made by itself or by a lower court to prevent abuse of the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... necessary to do so to prevent abuse of the process of the court or otherwise to secure the ends of justice; the jurisdiction is however of an exceptional nature and has to be exercised in exceptional cases only. In fairness to learned counsel for the appellants we may state here that he has submitted before us that the State Government will be satisfied if we either expunge the remarks or hold them to be wholly unwarranted on the facts of the case. He has submitted that the real purpose of the appeal is to remove the stigma which has been put on the police force of the entire State by those remarks the truth of which it had no opportunity to challenge. The last question is, is the present case a case of an exceptional nature in which the learned judge should have exercised his inherent jurisdiction under s. 561-A Cr. P. C. in respect of the observations complained of by the State Government ? If there is one principle of cardinal importance in the administration of justice, it is this : the proper freedom and independence of judges and Magistrates must be maintained and they must be allowed to perform their functions freely and fearlessly and without undue interference by any bo ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ort his personal knowledge into the matter. We do not think that in the present case we need go into the question as to the extent to which a judge or Magistrate may draw upon his experience in assessing or weighing evidence or even in judging the conduct of a person. We recognise the existence of exceptional circumstances in a case where the judge or Magistrate may have to draw upon his experience to determine what is the usual or normal conduct with regard to men and affairs. We say this with respect, but it appears to us that in the present case even allowing' for the great experience which the learned judge had in the matter of criminal trials, his statement that there was not a single lawless group in the whole country whose record of crime came anywhere near the record of that organised unit which is known as the Indian Police Force was wholly unwarranted and, if we may say so, betrayed a lack of judicial approach and restraint. The learned judge referred to no material on which this observation was based, nor did he say that his experience of criminal trials gave him an occasion to compare the records of crime of various lawless groups in the State vis-a-vis the Police ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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