Delhi District Court
Ndps Act:(Central District):Tis ... vs State (Nct Of Delhi) on 21 March, 2018
1
IN THE COURT OF SH.NARINDER KUMAR:SPECIAL JUDGE2
NDPS ACT:(CENTRAL DISTRICT):TIS HAZARI COURT:DELHI
Crl. Rev. No. 191/2018
Date of institution: 17.03.2018 Decided on: 21.03.2018
Sayed Nusrat Ali
S/o Late Sh. Sayed Ayub Ali,
R/o D11/127, Millat Apartment,
Zakir Nagar, New Delhi.
.....Petitioner
Versus
State (NCT of Delhi)
Through Its Secretary. ....Respondent
JUDGMENT
Petitioner herein is feeling aggrieved by order dated 20.02.2018 passed by learned Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, whereby charge for offence under Section 419 IPC & 420 IPC has been framed against him in case FIR No. 2 238/08 PS EOW Cell.
2. As per accusation of charge, accused petitioner, during the period from 01.02.2006 to 01.03.2007 obtained one parking sticker for his vehicle car bearing no. DL 2CJ 1936 from the office of ACP (Security), Delhi Police Headquarters by claiming himself to be special correspondent with Hindustan Time and H. T. Media Ltd., from time to time.
3. The contention raised by learned counsel for petitioner is that prosecution has not placed on record any material to suggest that accused petitioner ever impersonated for the purpose of getting the parking sticker issued and as such no prima facie having been made out against him, revision petition deserves to be allowed and the impugned deserves to be set aside.
34. Parking sticker in question is said to have been obtained in respect of vehicle no. DL 2C J 1936 by writing a letter to ACP (Security), Police Head Quarters. Applicant claimed in the application that he was Special Correspondent with Hindustan Times.
5. Undisputedly, petitioner owned said vehicle and it was seized by the police from him while parking sticker meant for parking at Delhi Police Head Quarter was found lying affixed on it on 18.12.2008, when arrested in connection with investigation of case FIR No. 98/2008, PS Chanakyapuri.
6. In the application/letter of request submitted to ACP (Security) for issuance of parking sticker, applicant claimed himself to be Special Correspondent of Hindustan Times. Case of prosecution is that accused petitioner was not employed as Special Correspondent with Hindustan 4 Times or H. T. Media.
7. In the course of arguments, petitioner and his counsel admit that application (Mark Q1) was submitted by petitioner to the ACP (Security) Delhi Police Head Quarters, New Delhi. No date of submission of this application is available on it. Petitioner and his counsel submit that this application was submitted somewhere in September, 2008 and that parking sticker was applied for his Zen car bearing registration no. DL 2CJ 1936.
8. The parking sticker was issued under the signatures of the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Delhi vide Sl. no. 200 and its validity was last of all extended upto 31.12.2008. Registration number of the vehicle for which it was issued also finds mention on the right side top corner of said sticker.
9. Once the petitioner does not dispute submission 5 of the application (Mark Q1) or issuance of parking sticker to enter Police Head Quarter, for the said vehicle, point raised by counsel for petitioner before learned Trial Court challenging opinion of the Government Examiner on questioned documents relegates to the background.
10. Petitioner and his counsel submit, in the course of arguments, that in the application inadvertently petitioner mentioned his reference at the bottom of the said application as Hindustan Times in place of Hindustan Today.
11. Learned counsel for petitioner has drawn attention of the Court to the information available in a table page 18 of the Trial Court record which depicts different dates of issuance of parking stickers to the petitioner in respect of the same vehicle. He also drawn attention to the register containing the entries dated 01.08.2008 to 6 31.12.2008 to depict that the particulars of the applicant - petitioner mentioned against Sl. no. 200 reveal that his posting / reference was with Hindustan Today as Chief Editor, 98 Ansari Road, Darya Ganj and not with Hindustan Times, as its Special Correspondent.
12. The submission put forth by the petitioner and his counsel finds support from the contents of entry at Sl. No. 200 of the aforesaid register and from the Table submitted by the police. From the entries made in the table, it transpires that the petitioner was not issued parking sticker for the said vehicle for the first time and rather he had already been issued sticker for the said vehicle several times. There is nothing on record to suggest that any such verification was got made by the police.
It appears that the dealing hand recorded this entry at Sl. No. 200, in view of the previous record available with him, otherwise the dealing hand would not 7 have used words "Hindustan Today" and he would have mentioned the reference of the applicant in this column as "Hindustan Times". In such a situation, he would have also not mentioned in the said column the designation of the applicant as Chief Editor and rather mentioned the same as Special Correspondent as finds mentioned in the application.
13. During investigation, no document was collected to the effect that the petitioner was not employed with Hindustan Today. So undisputedly, during the relevant period i.e. August/September, 2008, petitioner was employed with Hindustan Today.
14. Letter dated 23.12.2008 issued by Senior Executive (Legal) to Inspector, Anti Forgery Section, EOW, Crime Branch in response to his letter dated 23.12.2008 would reveal that inquiry regarding employment of the 8 petitioner was made only from H. T. Media Ltd. Undisputedly, there is nothing on record to suggest that any inquiry was made by the IO from Hindustan Today. Copy of letter dated 23.12.2008 does not form part of the record, as submitted on behalf of the State.
15. Learned counsel for petitioner submits that digits '07' pertain to the year of issuance of the identity card. It is submitted that he is employed with Hindustan Today from 2006 and identity card was issued to him in the year 2007.
16. Petitioner is, even today, carrying with him his identity card issued by Hindustan Today which depicts his designation as EditorinChief/ employee ID:
HT/DL/001/07. Had the IO ever sought information regarding employment of the petitioner from Hindustan Today, on the basis of entry at sl. No.200, the result would have been different.9
17. In the given circumstances, on submission of challan on the basis of report collected from H. T. Media, in absence of any report from Hindustan Today, it is difficult to say that petitioner impersonated to ACP (Security), Delhi Police Head Quarter, New Delhi for the purpose of issuance of parking sticker. Rather, it appears to be a case only of inadvertent mistake on the part of the petitioner in writing words "Hindustan Times" in place of "Hindustan Today" in the application Mark Q1.
18. As regards photocopies of the identity card of the petitioner, said to have been collected during investigation of case FIR No. 300/07, these depict the employment of the petitioner with Hindustan Times. Learned counsel for petitioner submits that these photocopies are said to be part of record of said case FIR No. 300/07 PS I. P. Estate and were not seized during investigation of this case.
1019. The fact remains that IO did not make any verification from the office of Hindustan Today regarding employment of the petitioner applicant. Rather this case being a case on an inadvertent mistake on the part of the petitioner in writing down word "Times" instead of "Today", in the address given by him, in the application submitted to the ACP (Security), it cannot be said that the accused petitioner impersonated in getting issued parking sticker from time to time.
20. As a result, impugned order passed by Learned Chief Metropolitan Magistrate deserves to be set aside.
21. Accordingly, while allowing the revision petition, impugned order dated 20.02.2018 is hereby set aside and the petitioner is discharged in the case.
1122. Trial court record be sent back. File of revision petition be consigned to record room.
Announced in the open Court Digitally signed by NARINDER on this 21th day of March, 2018NARINDER KUMAR KUMAR Date:
2018.03.21 16:34:56 +0530 (NARINDER KUMAR) SPECIAL JUDGE, NDPS02 (CENTRAL) TIS HAZARI COURTS, DELHI