Sunil Kumar Manna Vs State of West Bengal and Ors. — Calcutta HC (2024) — LawSathi Research

Sunil Kumar Manna Vs State of West Bengal and Ors. — Calcutta HC (2024) — LawSathi Research

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

Directions issued to the ld. Metropolitan Magistrate, 15th Court, Calcutta to exhaust the Section 82 cr.p.c. process and subsequent provisions, then split up the trial and fix one date every 45 days, grant no unnecessary adjournments, and continue the trial notwithstanding any local Bar resolution.

Issue for consideration

Exhaustion of harsher process of law under Section 82 of the cr.p.c. and subsequent provisions to deal with the absconding accused Devi Prasad Dutta whose warrant of arrest could not be executed. +1 more

Court's answer

Directed the ld. Metropolitan Magistrate, 15th Court, Calcutta to exhaust harsher process of law in view of the police reports, adhering to Section 82 of the cr.p.c. and subsequent provisions after the process is exhausted.

Ratio / Principle

The ld. trial court would split up the trial and, after consideration of charges, if of the opinion that the trial should be conducted, fix one date in every 45 days so that the trial is taken to its logical conclusion within a reasonable period of time.

Key takeaways

No unnecessary adjournments to any party; the ld. Public Prosecutor to produce materials, exhibits and documents on the fixed date for examination of witnesses; all stakeholders to cooperate so the trial concludes at the earliest.ratio¶16
The trial would continue in spite of any resolution of the local Bar, and participating advocates will not stall the proceedings despite such resolution.ratio¶16

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

High Court, Calcutta (Tirthankar Ghosh, J.), 14.05.2024 — CRR 1269 of 2024 (Sunil Kumar Manna, defacto-complainant, v. State) disposed of. Police reports (Jorasanko and Survey Park Police Stations) showed the warrant of arrest against absconding accused Devi Prasad Dutta could not be executed in a case pending since 2018 before the Metropolitan Magistrate, 15th Court, Calcutta. The trial court was directed to exhaust harsher process of law under Section 82 of the cr.p.c. and subsequent provisions, then split up the trial and, if satisfied after considering charges, fix one date every 45 days to conclude the trial within a reasonable period; no unnecessary adjournments; the Public Prosecutor to produce materials, exhibits and documents on fixed dates; trial to continue irrespective of any local Bar resolution, with advocates not to stall proceedings.

14.05.2024

Serial no. 3 [G.S.D]

CRR 1269 of 2024

In the matter of : Sunil Kumar Manna

… … Petitioner

Mr. Dipta Dipak Banerjee … for the petitioner

Mr. Mir Anuruzzaman Mr. Tapas Kumar Saha

… for the State

Reports submitted by the officer in charge of Jorasanko Police Station as well as Survey Park Police Station be kept with the record. Copies of the reports submitted by the State be handed over to the ld. advocate appearing for the petitioner.

Both the officers have expressed their inability to execute the warrant of arrest in view of the fact that the accused, namely, Devi Prasad Dutta, is absconding.

The case is pending since 2018 and is presently being tried by the ld. Metropolitan Magistrate, 15^th Court, Calcutta. The petitioner before this court happens to be the defacto-complainant.

Having considered the plight of the present petitioner, I direct the ld. Metropolitan Magistrate, 15^th Court, Calcutta to exhaust harsher process of law in view of the reports submitted by the police authorities by adhering

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to Section 82 of the cr.p.c. and subsequent provisions after the process is exhausted.

The ld. trial court would, then, split up the trial and, after consideration of charges, if the ld. Magistrate is of the opinion that the trial of the case should be conducted, in that case, the ld. trial court would fix one date in every 45 days so that the trial of the case can be taken to its logical conclusion within a reasonable period of time.

No unnecessary adjournments be granted to any of the parties. Ld. Public Prosecutor conducting the case would produce the materials, exhibits and documents on the date so fixed for examination of the witnesses. All stakeholders would cooperate with the ld. trial court so that the trial of the case is concluded at the earliest. The trial of the case would continue in spite of any resolution of the local Bar and the participating advocates in any manner or the other will not stall the proceedings in spite of such resolution.

With the aforesaid observations, CRR 1269 of 2024 is disposed of.

Pending application, if any, is also disposed of.

Parties to act on a server copy of this order duly collected from the official website of the Hon’ble High Court, Calcutta.

Urgent Photostat certified copy of this order, if applied for, be supplied to the parties subject to compliance with all requisite formalities.

(Tirthankar Ghosh, J.)

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