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It is contended that even if the proceedings under Section 82(1) to 82(3) of Cr.P.C. is completed qua the petitioner, the petitioner could not be declared as a proclaimed offender as he is not accused of any offences mentioned under Section 82(4) Cr.P.C. Reliance is placed on the decision of the Rajasthan High Court in Rishabh Sethi vs. State of Rajasthan, judgment dated 08.03.2018 in S.B. Crl.Misc.(Petition) No.5767/2017.

3. Per contra, it is contended on behalf of the State that even though the petitioner may not have been accused of the offences mentioned in Section 82(4) Cr.P.C., the petitioner can still be declared as a proclaimed offender as the procedure contemplated in Section 82(1) to 82(3) has been complied with. It is contended that the term 'proclaimed offender' can also be used in respect of individuals who are accused of offences other than those mentioned in Section 82(4) Cr.P.C, though consequences may be different. Reliance is placed on the decisions of the Punjab & Haryana High Court in Crl.Misc.No. No.30146/2011 titled Rajiv vs. State of Haryana dated 12.10.2011 and Crl.M.359/2012 titled Deeksha Puri vs. State of Haryana, (2013) 1 RCR (Crl.) 159(2) decided on 16.10.2012.

12. Other than section 82(4), Section 82 does not stipulate the consequences of non-compliance of the proclamation issued under it. 82(4) stipulates that where the proclaimed person fails to appear at the specified place and time, the court may pronounce him as a proclaimed offender. This pronouncement as a proclaimed offender can only be issued if he is accused of the offences stipulated in 82(4) and that also, only after the court has made such inquiry as it deems fit. There is no provision, other than section 82(4) in the Cr.P.C., under which the court can pronounce a person as a proclaimed offender.

15. The necessity of safeguard is further felt if one were to examine the other stipulations contained in Cr.P.C. qua proclaimed offenders.

16. Section 40 Cr.P.C. inter alia stipulates that every officer employed in connection with the affairs of a village and every person residing in a village shall forthwith communicate to the nearest Magistrate or to the officer in charge of the nearest police station, whichever is nearer, any information which he may possess respecting the resort to any place within, or the passage through, such village of any person whom he knows, or reasonably suspects, to be a thug, robber, escaped convict or proclaimed offender. Section 40(2), stipulates that for the said section the expression 'proclaimed offender' includes any person proclaimed as an offender by any Court or authority in any territory in India to which this Code does not extend, in respect of any act which if committed in the territories to which this Code extends, would be an offence punishable under any of the following sections of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860), namely, 302, 304, 382, 392 to 399 (both inclusive), 402, 435, 436, 449, 450 and 457 to 460 (both inclusive). Most of the sections of Indian Penal Code referred to in Section 40(2) and Section 82(4) are common.

17. Section 41 Cr.P.C. inter alia empowers every police officer to arrest any person who has been proclaimed as an offender either under the Cr.P.C or by order of the State Government, without an order from a Magistrate and without a warrant.

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18. Section 43 Cr.P.C. inter alia empowers every private person to arrest or cause to be arrested any proclaimed offender.

19. Section 73 Cr.P.C. inter alia authorises the Chief Judicial Magistrate or a Magistrate of the first class to direct a warrant to any person within his local jurisdiction for the arrest of a proclaimed offender or of any person who is accused of a non-bailable offence and is evading arrest.