Subash Gochhayat Vs State of Odisha

(arising out of G.R. Case No. 703 of 2009) which is pending in the Court of the learned District and Sessions Judge, Kendrapara, where the application under Section 317 of Cr.P.C. filed on behalf of the petitioner Subash Gochhayat, Titan Samal and Anataryami Malik was rejected and NBW of arrest was issued, holding that since the year 2012, the accused is not appearing and no convincing cause has been shows for their non-appearance.

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Mr. Mangu Nandy, learned counsel appearing on behalf of

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Mr. Deepak Kumar Sahoo, learned counsel for the petitioner submits

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that due to communication gap between the advocate and the petitioner and wrong posting of the date in the diary, the petitioner could not appear before the learned Court below as he had no idea regarding the date of posting of the case for which NBW of arrest has been issued against him. He has also stated that the order in question has been passed mechanically as the bench clerk typed the order and the Court without applying the judicial mind has signed the same. He further submits that the petitioner has been released on bail on 23.02.2010 and is willing to surrender in the Court below on or before 16.05.2025 cooperate for early disposal of the trial.

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Perused the status report dated 03.05.2025 of the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate -cum- A.S.J., Kendrapara where it is stated as follows:-

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“This is a case corresponding to Kendrapara Sadar P.S. Case No.24 dated 09.10.2009 wherein charge sheet U/s. 395 of I.P.C was submitted vide C.S. No.10 dated 22.02.2010 against five numbers of accused persons namely (1) Popy @ Debendra Kumar Routray, (2) Subash Gochhayat, (3) Titan Samal, (4) Uma @ Umakant Behera and (5) Antia @ Antaryami Malik and the case was committed to the Court of Sessions on dated 07.09.2012.

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On 30.09.2014, the accused persons namely Umakanta Behera and Debendra Kumar Routray were

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absent and allowed to be represented through their counsel U/s.317 (1) Cr.P.C. However, the accused persons namely Subash Gochhayat, Titan Samal and Anataryami Malik were absent and the learned defence counsel on their behalf filed a petition U/s.317 (1) Cr.P.C. to represent them which was rejected on or the ground that the accused persons were not appearing since 2012 and no convincing cause was shown on that day and accordingly NBW was issued against the above three accused persons.

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Subsequently, on dated 08.10.2015 the accused Titan Samal surrendered before the Hon'ble Sessions Judge, Kendrapara and was released on bail in view of the order passed by the Hon'ble High Court of Orissa in CRLMC No.4190 of 2015. Thereafter the case record was posted to different dates for production of the accused persons namely Subash Gochhayat and Antaryami Malik but they could not be apprehended and lastly on 31.10.2019 the case record was split up against the absentee accused persons namely Subash Gochhayat and Anataryami Malik.

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The original case record i.e. ST Case No.99-224 of 2019 was transferred to this Court and were received on 28.11.2019 and posted for consideration of charge. The case was posted to various dates for consideration of charge against the accused persons namely (1)Uma @ Umakant Behera, (2) Popy @ Debendra Kumar Routray and (3) Titan Samal, but

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lastly on 30.07.2023 while the case was posted for consideration of charge, the accused persons were found absent and their counsel filed a petition U/s.317(1) Cr.P.C. which was rejected and NBW was issued against them. On 18.05.2024, the accused Titan Samal was arrested on the strength of NBW and on 20.05.2024 he was released on bail. The NBW issued against the absentee accused persons namely (1)Uma @ Umakant Behera and (2)Popy @ Debendra Kumar Routray has not been executed till date. Now the original case record is posted to 11.07.2025 for production of the accused persons namely Uma @ Umakant Behera and Popy @ Debendra Kumar Routray.”

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I do not find any illegality in the order dated 30.09.2014 so as to interfere with the same. The explanation that the petitioner could not appear in the Court below on account of communication gap with the counsel is also not acceptable in view of the fact that almost eleven years have elapsed since the date the NBW has been issued against the petitioner and it is expected that the petitioner would have enquired about his case before that.

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But considering the submission of the learned counsel that the petitioner is willing to surrender in the Court below and cooperate for early disposal of the trial, the CRLMC is disposed of directing

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that if the petitioner surrenders in the Court of the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate -cum- A.S.J., Kendrapara in the S.T. Case No. 99-224 of 2019 on or before 16.05.2025 and files an application for bail, the same shall be considered and disposed of on the same day in accordance with law.

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Urgent certified copy of this order be granted on proper application.

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(Savitri Ratho) Judge

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Sukanta

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Signature Not Verified

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Digitally Signed Signed by: SUKANTA KUMAR BEHERA Designation: Senior Stenographer Reason: Authentication Location: Orissa High Court, Cuttack Date: 09-May-2025 16:46:04

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Subash Gochhayat v. State of Odisha

Case brief

What is this about?

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Subash Gochhayat v. State of Odisha

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

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What the court decided

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