Balance personal liberty and societal interest

The Hindu October 17,2007

Before issuing warrants, says court

New Delhi: Issuing guidelines to trial courts and the High Courts, the Supreme Court has said a non-bailable warrant (NBW) should be issued to bring a person to court when a bailable warrant is unlikely to have the desired result.

“This could be when: it is reasonable to believe that the person will not voluntarily appear in court; or police authorities are unable to find the person to serve him with a summons; or it is considered that the person could harm someone if not placed in custody immediately,” said a Bench comprising Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justices R.V. Raveendran and Dalveer Bhandari.
Order set aside

The Bench was setting aside an order of the Uttarakhand High Court, which issued NBWs to secure the presence of two office-bearers of the Sanatan Dharma Pratinidhi Sabha on the basis of a criminal complaint against them.

Writing the judgment, Justice Bhandari said personal liberty was paramount. “Therefore, we caution courts to refrain from issuing NBWs. The power being discretionary must be exercised judiciously with extreme care and caution. The court should properly balance both personal liberty and societal interest before issuing warrants.”

The Bench said, “There cannot be any straightjacket formula for issuance of warrants but as a general rule, unless an accused is charged with the commission of a heinous crime and it is feared that he is likely to tamper with or destroy evidence or is likely to evade the process of law, issuance of NBWs should be avoided.”

It said, “As far as possible, if the court is of the opinion that a summons will suffice in getting the appearance of the accused in the court, summons or bailable warrants should be preferred. Warrants, either bailable or non-bailable, should never be issued without proper scrutiny of facts and complete application of mind, due to serious consequences and ramifications which ensue on issuance of warrants. The court must very carefully examine whether the criminal complaint or FIR has not been filed with an oblique motive.”