DEVENDRA KUMAR Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave granted.

(2.) These Appeals arise out of the judgment and order passed by the Punjab & Haryana High Court on 19th March, 2010, in Crl.M. Nos. 28847 and 28849 of 2008, allowing the application filed by the Station House Officer, Hodal Police Station, praying for police remand of the accused, Devender Kumar, for three days.

(3.) It appears that when the Appellant No. 1, Devender Kumar, was produced before the Judicial Magistrate, Palwal on 8th October, 2008, in connection with case FIR No. 333 dated 18th September, 2008, registered at Hodal Police Station, District Faridabad under Sections 498A, 406, 506, 323 read with Section 34 IPC an application was made for police remand by an officer of the rank of Assistant Sub-Inspector, which, was rejected vide an order dated 8.10.2008, as the said application was contrary to the provisions of Section 167(1) Cr.P.C. which provide that an application for police remand can be made only by an officer not below the rank of Sub-Inspector. Accordingly, the Appellant No. 1 was remanded to judicial custody and was directed to be produced on 22nd October, 2008. Subsequently, however, the position was rectified and as indicated hereinabove, an application was made by the S.H.O., Hodal, on 9th October, 2008, praying for grant of police remand of the accused/appellant Devender Kumar for a period of three days. It was mentioned therein that custodial interrogation of the accused was necessary for recovery of the dowry articles. The said application was dismissed by the learned Judicial Magistrate on 10th October, 2008. The learned Magistrate granted bail to Appellant No. 1 by another order dated 10th October, 2008. The Respondent No. 4, Kavita alias Shama, filed Criminal Misc. No. 28847-M and 28849-M of 2008 in the High Court of Punjab and Haryana praying for cancellation of the bail granted to the appellants. She also prayed for quashing of the orders dated 8.10.2008 and 10.10.2008 by which the application for remand of Appellant No. 1 had been rejected. By the impugned order dated 19th March, 2010, the High Court allowed the Criminal Misc. Petitions and quashed the orders dated 8.10.2008 and 10.10.2008 upon holding that Devender Kumar, the Appellant No. 1 herein, had made a disclosure statement that dowry articles had been given to him and those articles were lying in his house at Delhi, which could be identified and recovered. Aggrieved by the order dated 19.3.2010 passed by the High Court in Criminal Misc. Nos. 28847-M and 28849-M of 2008, the appellants have filed this appeal.