LegalCrystal – Blog

CITIZENS OF THIS LAND ! PEOPLE OF ALL WALKS OF LIFE – PLEASEBEWARE AND BE AWARE OF THE PROTECTION OUR LAW OF THE LANDEXTENDS!

IS THIS ALL THE REMEDY AVAILABLE?!!!!!!!!!!

KINDLY GO THROUGH THE FOLLOWING AND ADD YOUR CONCERN/THOUGHT /ACTION!
State of Maharashtra And Ors. Vs. Sarangdharsingh Shivdassingh Chavan And Anr
Excerpts from the above link:
How can poor farmers sustain their complaint in the face of such directions and how canthe subordinate police officers carry on investigation ignoring such instructions of the ChiefMinister?

It is not known to us in how many cases investigation has been totally scuttled Recordsdisclosed in this case show that out of 74 cases only in seven cases chargesheets were filedand the rest of the cases were either compromised or withdrawn.
The way interference was caused first from the office of the Chief Minister by his PrivateSecretary by two telephone calls on 31.5.2006 and the manner in which District Collectorwas summoned by the Chief Minister on the very next day i.e. 1.6.2006 for giving instructionsto specially treat any complaints filed against M.L.A. Mr. Dilip Kumar Sananda and his familyhas no precedent either in law or in public administration.
Law does not accord any special treatment to any person in respect of any complaint havingbeen filed against him when it discloses the commission of any cognizable offence. In thecontext of this clear legal position which, as noted above, is a vital component of a Rule ofLaw, the direction of the then Chief Minister to give a special treatment to Shri Dilip KumarSananda, M.L.A and his family about registering of complaint filed against them is totallyunwarranted in law. Mr. Vilasrao Deshmukh as the Chief Minister of State of Maharashtrais expected to know that the farmers of the State specially those in the Vidarbha region aregoing through a great deal of suffering and hardship in the hands of money lenders.From the communication of the Collector containing the instructions of the then ChiefMinister, Mr. Vilasrao Deshmukh, it is clear that the Chief Minister was aware of variouscomplaints being filed against the said family. Even then he passed an order for a specialtreatment in favour of the said family which is unknown to law . This was obviously doneto protect the Sananda family from the normal legal process and a special procedure wasdirected to be adopted in respect of criminal complaint filed against them. In other words,the Chief Minister wanted to give the members of the said family a special protection whichis not available to other similarly placed persons. It is clear from the Collector’s order dated5.6.2006 where the Chief Minister’s instructions were quoted that the Chief Minister wasacting solely on political consideration to screen the family of M.L.A from the normal process of law.
Legal remedy available : The legal position is well settled that on information being lodgedwith the police and if the said information discloses the commission of a cognizable offence,the police shall record the same in accordance with the provisions contained under Section154 of the Criminal Procedure Code. Police Officer’s power to investigate in case of acognizable offence without order of the Magistrate is statutorily recognised under Section156 of Code. Thus the police officer in charge of a police station, on the basis of informationreceived or otherwise, can start investigation if he has reasons to suspect the commission ofany cognizable offence.
This amounts to bestowing special favour to some chosen few at the cost of the vast numberof poor people who as farmers have taken loans and who have come to the authorities oflaw and order to register their complaints against torture and atrocities by the money lenders.The instructions of the Chief Minister will certainly impede their access to legal redress andbring about a failure of the due process.
Final remedy: This Court is extremely anguished to see that such an instruction could comefrom the Chief Minister of a State which is governed under a Constitution which resolves toconstitute India into a socialist, secular, democratic republic. Chief Minister’s instructionsare so incongruous and anachronistic, being in defiance of all logic and reason, that ourconscience is deeply disturbed. We condemn the same in no uncertain terms.We affirm the order of the High Court and direct that the instruction of the Chief Ministerto the Collector dated 5.6.06 has no warrant in law and is unconstitutional and is quashed.We dismiss this appeal with costs of Rs.10,00,000/- (Rupees Ten Lakhs) to be paid by theappellant[State of maharastra] in favour of the Maharashtra State Legal Services Authority.This fund shall be earmarked by the Authority to help the cases of poor farmers. Such costsshould be paid within a period of six weeks from date.