R.RAMAN Vs. R.BALAJI RAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The criminal process is not merely a mechanism for securing convictions, but a constitutional instrument for balancing the competing imperatives of societal order, victim justice, and individual liberty. While the presence of an accused before the trial Court is indispensable for the orderly progress of criminal proceedings, coercive processes such as Non-Bailable Warrants are not intended to operate as punitive tools, divorced from the realities of human conduct and procedural contingencies.

(2.) Equally, the inherent jurisdiction of this Court under Sec. 528 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (corresponding to Sec. 482 CrPC) is extraordinary in nature and cannot be permitted to supplant or short- circuit the statutory remedies expressly provided before the trial Courts. An overzealous invocation of such jurisdiction in matters relating to recall of warrants would not only erode the authority of trial Courts but would also impede the expeditious disposal of criminal cases, thereby frustrating the mandate of Article 21 of the Constitution of India.

(3.) It is in the above constitutional and statutory backdrop that the present Criminal Original Petition, seeking a direction relating to recall of a Non- Bailable Warrant, falls for consideration.