HARBIR CHAWLA Vs. MAHENDRA PRASAD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) BY consent of parties all the aforesaid habeas Corpus writ petitions are heard together since they involve common question and are disposed of by one common judgment.

(2.) THE facts leading to the aforesaid Habeas Corpus writ petition relating to Harbir Chawla inter alia are that the petitioner is a resident of Chandrapura in the State of Maharashtra. The petitioner carries on trading and for that purpose has to travel to different parts of India. The petitioner can read and write Gurmukhi language and can sign in English. He cannot mead or understand Hindi language. He is also not sufficiently educated to understand complicated English sentence. The petitioner came to Calcutta by air from Delhi on 17th August, 1992. On arrival at the Calcutta Airport, he was intercepted by some persons and was taken to Lake Town Police Station. The petitioner was charged for commission of offence under Section 121a/122/384/506/120 I. P. C. and Section 25 and 27 of the Arms Act and was implicated in Lake Town Police Station Case No. 149 dated 2nd August, 1992. The petitioner was charged as a person maintaining link with Babbar Khalsa Group.

(3.) IT has been submitted on behalf of the petitioner that he is completely innocent and had nothing to do with the commission of any of the offences in respect of which he was arrested. He was compelled by the police to make a statement by the Police which was obtained from him under duress and coercion.