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Showing contexts for: 174A IPC in Sunil Tyagi vs Govt Of Nct Of Delhi & Anr on 28 June, 2021Matching Fragments
9. This Court is of the view that declaring a person as a Proclaimed Offender leads to a serious offence under Section 174A IPC which is punishable for a period upto 3 or 7 years. It affects the life and liberty of a person under Article 21 of the Constitution of India and it is necessary to ensure that the process under Sections 82 and 83 CrPC is not issued in a routine manner and due process of law is followed. The second important aspect is that once a person has been declared as a Proclaimed offender, it is the duty of the State to make all reasonable efforts to arrest him and attach his properties as well as launch prosecution under Section 174A IPC.
20. The Court is empowered under Section 83 of the Code to order attachment of the movable and/or immovable properties of the Proclaimed person at any time after the issuance of the proclamation under Section 82 of the Code.
21. The legislature by enacting Section 174A IPC has further penalised the non-appearance of a proclaimed offender. The very basis of fair trial is threatened if an accused/suspect is declared as a proclaimed offender without proper service, or if proclamations and non-bailable warrants are issued in a routine manner. The extent of the problem is evident from the fact that in Delhi, the statistics provided by the Delhi Police reveal that as on date, there were approximately 18,541 Proclaimed offenders in the city of Delhi, out of which 6,000 Proclaimed offenders are accused of heinous crimes. The CBI which is a much smaller organisation had 820 proclaimed offenders pending for apprehension as on 31st December, 2014, and only a total of 184 Proclaimed offenders and 193 absconders had been arrested in the past three years. As on 31 st December, 2013, there were 1,540 cases between 2011 and 2013 where an offence under Section 174A IPC was invoked by the authorities
Registration of FIR under Section 174A IPC
266. Section 174A was inserted via the Criminal Amendment Act of 2005 in the IPC wherein the following were included as offences:
non-compliance with a proclamation issued under Section 82(1) of CrPC shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years or with fine or both; A declaration under Section 82(4) is punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to seven years and fine.
267. Hence, proceedings under Section 174A IPC may only be initiated after a proclamation under Section 82(1) has been issued. As per Circular dated 01st January, 2014 issued by the office of Deputy Commissioner of Police, Legal Cell, Delhi in the event a chargesheet has already been filed prior to the accused having been declared a „proclaimed offender‟, a supplementary chargesheet must be filed for the offence under Section 174A IPC. The Circular further states that in a Complaint case, where no fresh FIR exists, a fresh FIR under Section 174A should be registered when information with respect to an offence under Section 174A IPC is received.