TMI Blog2020 (8) TMI 229X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... was unmerited and the same was accordingly rejected. Significantly, however, the Hon ble High Powered Committee made it clear that the guidelines and minutes of the Committee for release of prisoners on interim bail vide criterion adopted in the meetings dated 28.03.2020, 07.04.2020, 18.04.2020, 05.05.2020, 18.05.2020 and 20.06.2020, would in no way affect the rights of other UTPs, who do not stand covered under these categories, from invoking the jurisdiction of concerned courts for grant of regular/interim bail. The Hon ble High Powered Committee further observed to the effect that the applicant was at liberty to file the bail application before the concerned Courts, and the same as and when filed, may be considered by the concerned Court on merits, in accordance with law. The contention raised by the petitioner that the Hon ble High Powered Committee vide its minutes dated 28.03.2020 which have been included in the present petition and the subsequent minutes till the date 31.07.2020 had in any manner supplanted the provisions of Sections 437/438/439 of the Cr.P.C., 1973,- cannot be accepted and thus, the contention raised on behalf of the petitioner that the criterion l ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ined, however, it is open to the petitioner to seek redressal in accordance with law in terms of Chapter XXXIII of the Cr.P.C., 1973 to seek the grant of bail, which apparently necessarily has to be considered on its own merits as already observed by the Hon ble High Powered Committee vide its minutes dated 20.06.2020 whilst rejecting the representation of the petitioner against the classification in relation to economic offence vide its minutes dated 28.03.2020. - W.P.(CRL) 814/2020 - - - Dated:- 10-8-2020 - HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE ANU MALHOTRA Petitioner Through: Mr. Kailash Vasdev, Sr. Advocate with Ms. Neoma Vasdev and Mr.Abhinav Mukerji, Advocates. Respondents Through: Mr. Rahul Mehra, Standing Counsel (Criminal), Mr. Chaitanya Gosain, Mr.Divyank Tyagi, Advs for R-1 Mr. Amit Mahajan, CGSC with Ms. Mallika Jhiremath, Adv for R-2 Ms. Surbhi Sharma and Ms. Aishwarya Singh, Advocates for complainant. JUDGMENT ANU MALHOTRA, J. 1. Vide the present petition, the prayers made by the petitioner are to the effect:- (a) Issue an appropriate Writ/order/Direction quashing the minutes of the meeting of the High Powered Committee held on 28.03.2020; and ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ssions that were made on 17.07.2020 on behalf of the petitioner, learned senior counsel for the petitioner confined the prayer made through the present petition to the prayer clause (a) submitting thus to the effect that in the event of prayer clause (a) being granted, the petitioner would be entitled to seek the grant of bail in terms thereof. The present petition is thus, now being dealt with only qua the prayer made by the petitioner seeking the quashing of the minutes of the meeting of the Hon ble High Powered Committee of this Court held on 28.03.2020. 6. The allegations levelled against the petitioner herein through the alleged commission of economic offences inter alia punishable under the PMLA Act, 2002 as also qua an offence punishable under Section 409 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 which is punishable with the imprisonment for life or that which it may extend to ten years and to a fine. The investigation conducted in relation to the allegations against the petitioner relates to averments in relation to:- (i) FIR No. 50/2019 dated 27.03.2019, PS Economic Offences Wing, Mandir Marg U/S 420/409/120B of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, (ii) ECIR No. 05/DLZO-II/201 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... (emphasis supplied) and the Hon ble High Powered Committee of this Court comprising of the Executive Chairperson of the State Legal Services Authority i.e. the Executive Chairperson of DSLSA, the Special Secretary Forum, GNCTD, the Director General of Prison (s) and the Member Secretary of the DSLSA vide minutes dated 28.03.2020 vide Item No.3 stipulated to the effect:- ITEM NO.3:- DETERMINING FRESH CATEGORY OF UNDER TRIAL PRISONERS WHO CAN BE RELEASED ON INTERIM BAIL : - Kanwal Jeet Arora, Member Secretary informed the Committee, that immediately on receipt of letter from Govt. of NCT of Delhi regarding formation of present Committee, he on being directed by Hon ble Chairperson had requested D.G.(Prisons) through the letter dated 26.03.2020 to furnish requisite information for the impact analysis on the proposed relaxed criterion of under trial prisoners. The same is accordingly submitted. The Members of the Committee discussed and deliberated upon the proposed category of prisoners, who may now be considered for grant of interim bail for 45 days in view of the circumstances in which we are in preferably on Personal Bond :- (i) Under trial prisoners (U ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Anti-National Activities and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act etc. 10. To similar effect were the minutes of the Hon ble High Powered Committee of this Court dated 18.05.2020 whereby, vide Item 6 of the said minutes, it was specifically reiterated to the effect:- ITEM NO.6:- DETERMINING FRESH CATEGORY OF PRISONERS WHO CAN BE RELEASED ON INTERIM BAIL Members of the Committee have taken into consideration that on the basis of the criteria adopted earlier, as on date 3678 inmates/ convicts/UTPs have been released on parole/interim bail. Kanwal Jeet Arora, Member Secretary, DSLSA has informed the Committee about the letter/representation dated 16.05.2020 wherein DG (Prisons) submitted that first case of COVID-19 (Novel Corona Virus) positive has been detected in Delhi Prisons (Rohini Jail). He has informed that one inmate was admitted in DDU Hospital on 10.05.2020 for intestinal problem where he was operated. After operation, he was also tested for COVID-19 (Novel Corona Virus) on 11.05.2020 and was found positive on 13.05.2020. It is also submitted by DG (Prisons) that before being admitted to DDU Hospital, this inmate, namely K was sharing barrack with 19 oth ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... erion or the criteria adopted in the earlier Meetings, should not be considered :- (i) Those inmates who are undergoing trial for intermediary/ large quantity recovery under NDPS Act ; (ii) Those under trial prisoners who are facing trial under Section 4 6 of POCSO Act; (iii) Those under trial prisoners who are facing trial for offences under section 376, 376A, 376B, 376C, 376D and 376E and Acid Attack; (iv) Those UTPs who are foreign nationals ; (v) Those under trial prisoners who are facing trial under Prevention of Corruption Act (PC Act) / PMLA, MCOCA ; and (vi) Cases investigated by CBI/ED/NIA/Special Cell of Delhi Police, Crime Branch, SFIO, Terror related Cases, Riot cases, cases under Anti-National Activities and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act etc. DG (Prisons) has informed that on the basis of this new criterion, approximately 1500 - 1700 UTPs would be benefited and their release would further ease out the Jail Population. Chairperson has directed Member Secretary, DSLSA to take steps for having the applications of UTPs falling in the above relaxed criterion, be moved through the Panel Lawyers of DSLSA, annexing the copy ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nd covered under these categories, from invoking the jurisdiction of concerned courts for grant of regular/interim bail. The concerned Courts on filing of applications by such UTPs may consider the same on merits, in accordance with law. 12. The submission that has been made on behalf of the petitioner is to the effect that vide the minutes of the Hon ble High Powered Committee of this Court, the categorization by way of exclusion of UTPs lodged in the jails in Delhi as under trial prisoners qua the alleged commission of offences in relation to which investigation has been conducted by the Directorate of Enforcement and of UTPs alleged to have committed economic offences from the purview of grant of interim bail/parole in view of the prevailing pandemic, is arbitrary, unjust, unfair and not on any reasonable basis and without any intelligible differentia for creating such classification, in as much as, the release of the UTPs in terms of the minutes of the Hon ble High Powered Committee of this Court pursuant to the directions of the Hon ble Supreme Court vide order dated 23.03.2020 in Suo Moto Writ Petition (C) No.1/2020- IN RE : CONTAGION OF COVID 19 VIRUS IN PRISONS ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ass within a class has broadly been created amongst the pool of UTPs by segregating UTPs accused of offences covered by the general penal provisions (i.e IPC) and those being investigated by agencies like the Enforcement Directorate under the PMLA Act. Inter alia the petitioner has submitted that a sub-categorization has been sought to be made within those classes of UTPs who are suffering from a medical condition and thus, UTPs suffering from medical condition and accused for offences under IPC (as determined by the Committee) are to be treated differently from UTPs with a medical condition and who have been accused in an offence with punishment over 7 (seven) years and/or alleged to be accused in a case being investigated by the special agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate. The petitioner thus submits that this sub-categorization within the class of under trial prisoners has been made, even though the impact of the virus is not confined to any class of under trials prisoners and can admittedly lead to death of any class of UTPs. 16. The petitioner further submits that the UTPs suffering from cardiovascular diseases or other complex health issues or comorbidities were n ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of Customs 84 (2000) DLT 854 and in H.B. Chaturvedi v. CBI 171(2010) DLT 223 has held that it is impermissible to classify economic offences as a separate class judicially for the purpose of grant of bail in the absence of any specific legislation to that effect. 21. The petitioner has thus, submitted that the classification as drawn by the High Powered Committee of this Court, inter alia, permits consideration of bail to offenders of much more serious crimes which affect public order and society at large, who are capable of causing bodily injury/hurt as opposed to those persons who have been alleged to commit economic crimes. The petitioner further submits that the persons like the petitioner have been accused of offences that have been committed between two private parties and in no manner have any element of public exchequer involved which aspect the petitioner would make good before the Court at the appropriate stage. The petitioner thus submits that the sub-categorization of the case of the applicant/ petitioner, is neither reasonable, nor just nor on the basis of any intelligible differentia. Inter alia the petitioner submits that in the prison(s) social distancing ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... OHAN SINGH VS. DIRECTORATE OF ENFORCEMENT dated 23.07.2020 was also submitted by the learned counsel submitting to the effect that the said co-accused has already been granted bail in Enforcement Case Information Report No. ECIR/05/DLZO-II/2019 dated 24.07.2019 ( ECIR , for short) under sections 3/4 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002 ( PMLA , for short) subject to terms and conditions as imposed thereby and thus, it has been submitted on behalf of the applicant that the applicant on a parity of reasoning is entitled to bail. (qua this submission, it is essential to observe that vide order dated 31.07.2020 in Special Leave to Appeal (CRL) No.3474/2020 until further orders, status quo with respect to release from jail of Dr.Shivinder Mohan Singh has been ordered by the Hon ble Supreme Court.) 25. At the outset, it is essential to observe that as has already been observed elsewhere hereinabove that the submissions that had been made during the course of the hearing on 17.07.2020 have been specifically made to the effect that the learned senior counsel for the petitioner had confined the prayer made through the present petition i.e. W.P.(CRL) 814/2020 to the prayer cl ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of the applicant had been dismissed on 15.05.2020 and it was either open to the petitioner to assail the same or to seek the grant of regular bail in terms of Sections 437/439 of the Cr.P.C., 1973. It has inter alia been submitted on behalf of the respondent no.1 that the petitioner and the similarly placed persons have been arrested after detailed and reasoned investigation carried out by agencies and that the crimes allegedly committed by these persons are not those which can be committed in the heat of the moment but are committed in a cool and calculated manner causing great amount of loss to the general public and economy of the country and that the Hon ble High Powered Committee of this Court keeping various factors in mind has rightly chosen not to give the benefit of the minutes to persons alleged to have committed such offences. The respondent no.1 has further submitted that white collar crimes especially of the nature as the present case are a class apart with huge amount of public money involved in these cases which have weakened the economic foundation of the country. 29. It has further been submitted on behalf of the State that it is well settled by catena of judgm ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... avit that the petitioner in conspiracy with other co-conspirators has caused wrongful loss to the extent of at least ₹ 2036.69 Crore to RFL, the RFL being M/s Religare Finvest Limited (in short RFL), a subsidiary of Religare Enterprises Limited (in short REL), which is a public company, listed on stock exchanges and is licensed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to undertake the business of financial services as a non-deposit taking/ lending Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) and that the RFL operates as a small and medium enterprise (SME) financing focused NBFC and is in the business of extending SME working capital loans, secure SME business expansion loans, short term trade finance and other loans to various entities and that the RFL is classified as a systematically important NBFC by the RBI and that the petitioner being the promoter of REL along with Sh. Shivinder Singh continued to control REL till February 2018, i.e., till the time they remained on the Board of Directors of REL and thereby controlled RFL and that the petitioner herein and Sh. Shivinder Mohan Singh played a significant role in the management and conduct of the affairs of the RFL and exercised deep and ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ed material facts from not only the RBI but also the general public shareholders and thus caused the RFL to give unsecured, high value purported loans to their own controlled shell companies and related / known entities and that the loans were given by RFL on the sole and express basis that these entities were known to the petitioner and Sh. Shivinder Mohan Singh and often hundreds of crores were disbursed by RFL at very short notice and at times without adequate documentation for the same and in many instances the documentation was created only subsequently and antedated -thus forged. 34. Inter alia the respondent no.2 has submitted that the monies taken out from the RFL and were given to the related entities as unsecured loans by the petitioner who was controlling the RFL, never came back and were utilized by the petitioner and the other co-accused persons through web of shell companies. 35. On a consideration of the rival submissions made on behalf of either side, it is essential to observe that vide the order dated 23.03.2020 of the Hon ble Supreme Court in Suo Moto Writ Petition (C) No.1/2020- IN RE : CONTAGION OF COVID 19 VIRUS IN PRISONS pursuant to which the Hon ble H ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Court whereby it was clarified that it has not directed the States/Union Territories to compulsorily release the prisoners from their respective prisons. Thus, no prisoner in whatsoever category/class he falls and whatever nature of offence he is facing trial, can seek or claim to be released from prison as a matter of right. This Committee while arriving at its decision in earlier meetings as well as in laying down the criteria today for release of the categories of prisoners on interim bail herein above, had taken into account the overall holding capacity of Delhi Prisons, existing strength on the dates of the Meetings and also the nature of offences for which the prisoners were lodged in jails. The Committee deliberated upon the categories/class of prisoners depending upon the nature of offence for which they were in jail for considering them for grant of interim bail/parole as the case may be. The committee had also considered to exclude certain nature of cases under the Special Acts like POCSO, MCOCA, PC Act, NDPS, PMLA, UAPA, Terror related Cases, Rape Cases under Section 376 IPC besides those which have been investigated by CBI/ED/NIA/Special Cell of Delhi Police, ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he petitioner(s) were lodged in jails and that the Committee had deliberated upon the categories/class of prisoners depending upon the nature of offence for which they were in jail for considering them for grant of interim bail/parole as the case may be and that the Committee had also considered to exclude certain nature of cases under the Special Acts like POCSO, MCOCA, PC Act, NDPS, PMLA, UAPA, Terror related Cases, Rape Cases under Section 376 of the IPC besides those which have been investigated by CBI/ED/NIA/Special Cell of Delhi Police, Crime Branch, SFIO, to be excluded from consideration zone for being released on ''interim bail''. The Committee has further observed to the effect that this decision was taken only after considering the relevant factors and on the basis of objective satisfaction arrived at by the Committee and that the criteria was adopted taking into consideration class/category of offences in mind and not having prisoner-centric approach and that the object was only to release some of the prisoners and not all the prisoners on a reasonable classification arrived at on the basis of the orders passed by Hon ble Supreme Court, intending to impl ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... emic, could invoke the jurisdiction of the concerned Courts for the grant of regular/interim bail, makes it apparently clear that the minutes of the Hon ble High Powered Committee of this Court dated 28.03.2020 adhered to till 31.07.2020 and till date in relation to economic offences, do not preclude and do not prevent the applicant/petitioner who is alleged to have committed such an offence as investigated by the CBI/ED/NIA /Special Cell of Delhi Police to move an application seeking the grant of bail in accordance with law which the Court concerned could consider on merits in accordance with law. 42. This itself makes it clear that the contention raised by the petitioner that the Hon ble High Powered Committee vide its minutes dated 28.03.2020 which have been included in the present petition and the subsequent minutes till the date 31.07.2020 had in any manner supplanted the provisions of Sections 437/438/439 of the Cr.P.C., 1973,- cannot be accepted and thus, the contention raised on behalf of the petitioner that the criterion laid down by the Hon ble High Powered Committee observing to the effect that the category of persons alienated in its minutes dated 28.03.2020 which ma ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e not been considered by the Hon ble High Powered Committee vide its minutes dated 28.03.2020 to fall within the ambit of the grant of discretionary interim bail by the factum simpliciter of the prevalence of the COVID19 corona pandemic, cannot be termed to be an arbitrary exercise of discretion for laying down the guidelines in relation to the category of alleged commission of offence in which an accused may be allowed to be released on interim bail only on the ground of prevalence of the COVID-19 corona pandemic. 46. As regards the contention that has been raised on behalf of the petitioner that the offence with much higher sentences than the offence alleged to have been committed by the present petitioner have been allowed to fall within the ambit of grant of discretionary bail, for example, even qua the offence punishable under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, where an accused has been lodged for a period of two years or more with no previous adverse antecedents against him, the aspect of consideration of the grant of interim bail to such an accused has not been negated by the Hon ble High Powered Committee, it is essential to observe that qua the offences which a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... complainant, there is nothing that prevents the petitioner from seeking the remedy of filing a bail application in accordance with law and the same has also been explicitly observed by the Hon ble High Powered Committee of this Court whilst rejecting the representation of the petitioner herein against its minutes dated 28.03.2020 observing to the effect that the applicant is entitled to seek the grant of bail and when he files such an application, the same may be considered on its own merits and in accordance with law. 48. On a consideration of the submissions that have been made on behalf of either side and the orders of the Hon ble Supreme Court dated 16.03.2020, 23.03.2020, 07.04.2020, 13.04.2020, 13.05.2020 06.07.2020 in Suo Moto Writ Petition (C) No.1/2020 IN RE : CONTAGION OF COVID 19 VIRUS IN PRISONS and the minutes of the Hon ble High Powered Committee of this Court dated 28.03.2020, 07.04.2020, 18.04.2020, 05.05.2020, 18.05.2020, 20.06.2020 and 31.07.2020, it is apparent that the prayer clause (a) as sought by the petitioner through the present petition, cannot be granted and is thus, not granted. 49. As regards the prayer clause (b) that has been mentioned in the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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