Taking Note Of Casual Remand Orders, Patna HC Directs Judicial Academy To Give Training To Magistrates [Read Order]

The order has been passed by the bench of Chief Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Anil Kumar Upadhyay in a writ petition, after noticing the casual remand orders passed by a Magistrate in violation of SC guidelines.

As per the law laid down by the Supreme Court in Arnesh Kumar v. State of Bihar & Ors, (2014) 8 SCC 273, a Magistrate while authorizing detention of the accused is obligated to record its satisfaction with regards the necessity for detention, before remanding him to custody.

In the present case however, the Magistrate concerned had been remanding the Petitioner to custody, without satisfying himself with regards the necessity for arrest. In fact, the remand orders were passed routinely for about three months, flouting the safeguards of detention laid down by the Supreme Court.

"The Apex Court in Arnesh Kumar (supra) observed that recording of satisfaction was not an empty formality.

What shocks us is the manner in which the Judicial Officers are passing routine orders… In none of these orders, there is a whisper that the accused be detained or sent to jail, much less record any satisfaction," the court observed.

The court said that the impugned orders had been passed without any application of mind and such, the orders of detention were illegal and the Petitioner was liable to be released forthwith. The court also then directed that the judicial officers should be given special training on this aspect, to avoid such circumstances in the future. Accordingly, it directed as under

"we have no doubt that at this point of time, the petitioner's detention is absolutely illegal and as such the writ petition needs to be allowed. As such we direct release of the petitioner Kundan Kumar forthwith…

The Registrar General of this Court is directed to forthwith communicate this order to the Director, Judicial Academy, Bihar, Patna for imparting training to the Judicial Officers as to how the officers must deal with the remand applications."

Criticizing the manner in which the Magistrate concerned had dealt with the Petitioner's case, the court remarked,

"Judicial Officers are not mere post officers, they are mandatorily required to examine the record, whereafter record their satisfaction with regard to the need and requirement of the accused to be detained and kept in custody, which regretfully, as is evident was never done in the instant case. In a very casual and a perfunctory manner, the accused-writ petitioner's case for remand was dealt with by the Judicial Officer (s) dealing with the file right from 17.11.2019, till 04.01.2020"

Case Details:
Case Title: Kundan Kumar v. State of Bihar & Ors.
Case No.: WP (Crl) No. 1703/2019
Quorum: Chief Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Anil Kumar Upadhyay
Appearance: Advocates Indradeo Prasad and Nagendra Kumar (for Petitioner); Additional Advocates General Prabhat Kumar Verma and Saroj Kumar (for Respondents)

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