Habeas Corpus Plea For Accused In Judicial Custody By Order Of Competent Court Not Maintainable: Punjab & Haryana High Court

The Punjab & Haryana High Court has said that a habeas corpus plea seeking the release of the accused, who is in judicial custody by virtue of an order passed by a court of competent jurisdiction, and, whose regular bail application has also been dismissed by the trial Court concerned, is not maintainable.

Justice Kuldeep Tiwari refused to entertain the habeas corpus plea of a man, who argued that judicial custody of a man was illegal because the police officers while arresting the accused "did not adhere to the provisions of Section 41-A of the Cr.P.C., therefore, the basic order of granting police remand becomes tainted with illegality."

Manohar Lal filed the writ of habeas corpus, under Article 226 of the Constitution, read with Section 3(2) of the Judges (Protection) Act, 1985.

Lal, who was arrested in a fraud case in consonance with an order passed by a court of competent jurisdiction, and, a regular bail application was also dismissed by the trial Court.

The main argument of the petitioner was that the judicial custody is in violation of “Arnesh Kumar v. State of Bihar”, [(2014) 8 SCC 273] and other judicial precedents.

After hearing the submissions, the Court opined that the writ was devoid of any merit.

Reliance was placed on the Supreme Court's decision in a case titled Col. Dr. B. Ramachandra Rao V/s State of Orissa and others”, [Writ Pet. No. 601 of 1970], wherein it held that a writ of habeas corpus cannot be granted to a person, in case he is undergoing the sentence of imprisonment imposed on him by a competent court.

Court also referred to the Supreme Court's order in the case of V. Senthil Balaji V/s. The State represented by Deputy Director and Ors., wherein, it held that when an arrestee is forwarded to a jurisdictional Magistrate under Section 19(3) of PMLA, 2002, then no writ of habeas corpus would lie and any plea of illegal arrest is to be made before such Magistrate, as the custody becomes judicial.

"On the touchstone of the hereinabove discussed judicial precedents, this Court has no hesitation to hold that the instant writ of habeas corpus, thereby seeking release of the petitioner, who is in judicial custody by virtue of an order passed by a court of competent jurisdiction, and, whose regular bail application has also been dismissed by the learned trial Court concerned, is not maintainable," said the Court.

Consequently, the writ petition was dismissed, "with liberty to the petitioner to raise all such issues, as canvassed in the instant petition, before the court of competent jurisdiction at the time of seeking relief of regular bail."

Title: MANOHAR LAL V. HON'BLE PUNJAB AND HARYANA HIGH COURT AND ORS.

 Mr. Vineet Kumar Jakhar, Advocate for the petitioner.

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (PH) 259

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