Rajasthan High Court - Jaipur
Bharat Lal S/O Babu Lal vs State Of Rajasthan on 4 November, 2020
(1 of 3) [CRLMP-5303/2020]
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHAN
BENCH AT JAIPUR
S.B. Criminal Miscellaneous (Petition) No. 5303/2020
Bharat Lal S/o Babu Lal, Aged About 26 Years, Through Power Of
Attorney Dholi Devi W/o Late Shri Babu Lal R/o Devli Post Gamb-
hira, Tehsil Malarna Doongar, Distt. Sawai Madhoipur Raj. Owner
Of Vehicle Tractor No. Rj-25-Rb-8427 Along With Trolly)
----Petitioner
Versus
1. State Of Rajasthan, Through P.p.
2. Asst. Engineer (Mining Engineer), Mining Department
Sawai Madhopur Raj.
3. Station House Officer, (Sho), Police Station Soorwal Distt.
Sawai Madhopur Raj.
4. R.t.o. Sawai Madhopur, Raj.
----Respondents
For Petitioner(s) : Mr. Satish Khandelwal For Respondent(s) : Mr. F.R.Meena, PP HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SANJEEV PRAKASH SHARMA Order 04/11/2020 Learned counsel for the petitioner(s) submits that the police seized the vehicle(s) mentioning it to be under Section 38 of the Rajasthan Police Act, 2007 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act") treating it as unclaimed property, learned Magistrate has rejected the application filed by the petitioner(s) seeking possession of the said vehicle on the ground that it is unclaimed vehicle(s).
Learned counsel for the petitioner(s) submits that the peti- tioner(s) is a registered owner of the vehicle(s) and therefore, the proceedings under Section 38 of the Act could not have been un- dertaken and even if, the same was undertaken; once, the learned (Downloaded on 11/11/2020 at 09:33:21 PM) (2 of 3) [CRLMP-5303/2020] Magistrate has come to knowledge that the vehicle is duly regis- tered and the registered owner is before it for claiming the same, there was no occasion for not releasing the said vehicle.
It is also submitted that the provisions of Section 38 of the Act cannot be misused in such a manner to deprive the petitioner(s) of its ownership and title of the vehicle(s), which has been seized wrongfully by the police.
I have considered the submissions as above. A bare look at the provisions of Section 38 of the Act would be relevant, hence, the same is quoted as under:
"38. Police officers to take charge of unclaimed property - (1) It shall be the duty of every police offi- cer to take charge of unclaimed property, and to fur- nish an inventory thereof to the Police Station having jurisdiction.
(2) The manner of disposal of such property shall be such as may be prescribed.
Explanation:- For the purpose of this section "prop- erty" shall mean any movable property, money or valuable security."
Thus, it is at the stage when the vehicle(s) is seized, that property may be treated as unclaimed property. However, once an application has been filed before the Court informing about the ve- hicle being an unregistered ownership of the claimant and he claims the said property, the provisions of Section 38 of the Act would automatically cease to apply and the learned Magistrate could not have avoided the provisions of Section 457 Cr.P.C. for release of the vehicle(s). Thus, the order(s) impugned herein passed by the learned Magistrate to the said effect is wholly mis- conceived the provisions aforesaid and is accordingly set aside. (Downloaded on 11/11/2020 at 09:33:21 PM)
(3 of 3) [CRLMP-5303/2020] The law regarding release of the vehicle has been explained by the Apex Court in detail in the case of Sunderbhai Ambalal De- sai & Ors. Versus State of Gujarat: (2002) 10 SCC 283, and by this Court also in the case of S.B. Criminal Misc. Petition No.2723/2019: Asharam Versus State of Rajasthan, decided on 3.2.2020 along with other connected petitions.
Accordingly, this misc. petition is allowed and the respective vehicle having registration No.RJ-25-RB-8427 (Tractor with Trol- ley), involved in this matter shall be released on the following terms:
a) The concerned Police Station shall release the offending vehicle(s) to the person(s), who is the registered owner(s) of the vehicle(s) alone.
b) A personal security of an amount of Rs.1,00,000/- to the satisfaction of the concerned Court to which the concerned Police Station is attached, shall be submitted for the purpose of release of the vehicle(s).
c) The petitioner(s) shall furnish the photographs of the ve-
hicle(s) showing its number and colour etc.
d). At the time of release, the petitioner(s) shall also give an undertaking to the effect that vehicle(s) shall not be used for any illegal purpose and if so found, the concerned owner shall be personally liable.
(SANJEEV PRAKASH SHARMA),J NITIN /652 (Downloaded on 11/11/2020 at 09:33:21 PM) Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)