The Allahabad High Court has directed its Registrar General to lodge a First Information Report in the matter, after finding that three petitions have been filed before the Court in the name of an advocate, who has already died.
A Single Bench of Justice Samit Gopal passed this order on Wednesday, while hearing a Criminal Miscellaneous Bail Application filed by Kamlesh Yadav and Another under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
The plea purports to have been filed on behalf of Kamlesh Yadav and Rajesh Chauhan, accused in a case registered under Sections 328, 302 of IPC at Police Station Bahariyabad, District Ghazipur, who are in jail since April 9, 2021.
“No one appears on behalf of the applicants to press the bail application, even when the matter has been taken up in the revised list. The bail application is an example of mischievous filing of a case before a Court of law by a fictitious person(s),” the Court observed.
Abhishek Kumar, Advocate has produced before the Court an order dated November 23, 2020 passed in Criminal Misc Anticipatory Bail Application (U/s 438 Cr.P.C.) (Gram Pradhan Rajesh Chauhan and two others Vs. State of U.P. and two others).
The Court noted, “The said anticipatory bail application was filed on behalf of Rajesh Chauhan, Amarendra Chauhan and Kamlesh Yadav in which an order has been passed on November 23, 2020 granting them anticipatory bail till submission of police report, if any, under Section 173(2) Cr.P.C. before the competent Court. The said application also purports to have been filed by Aditya Narayan Singh Advocate.
Also Read: Supreme Court upholds Patna High Court’s dismissal of title suit filed 54 years ago
Further, an order dated January 19, 2021 has been produced before the Court which has been passed in Criminal Misc Application (U/s 482 Cr.P.C.) No. 135 of 2021 (Gram Pradhanpati Rajesh Chauhan and two others Vs. State of U.P.), a perusal of which goes to show that none appeared in the matter when it was taken up and as such the case was directed to be listed in the ordinary course order dated January 19, 2021. The said petition also purports to have been filed by Aditya Narayan Singh Advocate.”
Further, another order dated November 28, 2020 has been produced before the Court which has been passed in Writ Petition No. 7968 of 2020 (Rajesh Chauhan and two others Vs. State of U.P. and 3 others), a perusal of which goes to show that even in the said writ petition no one had appeared on behalf of the petitioners when the matter was called up in the revised list.
The Court further noted that the said writ petition was dismissed for want of prosecution order dated November 28, 2020. The same was purported to have been filed by Aditya Narayan Singh and Rajesh Shukla, Advocates in which Ram Yash Chauhan, Advocate had appeared on behalf of the private respondent apart from the Additional Government Advocate for the State.
The common feature in all the three above petitions is that Aditya Narayan Singh, Advocate (who is reported to have died on May 16, 2014) has been the sole counsel in two matters and one of the counsels in the writ petition.
“In perusal of the entire records, the report of the Registrar General of the Court and the affidavit filed by Saurabh Singh Chauhan, it is apparent that the bail application has been filed in a clandestine manner for the reasons best known to the person(s) who have played mischief by filing the same and then not appearing before the Court to press the same.
The bail application is a bogus bail application and the Court thus cannot shut its eye to the said issue and let the same go by after prima facie coming to the opinion that the filing of the bail application on behalf of the two applicants Kamlesh Yadav and Rajesh Chauhan is in a clandestine manner. The case is a sham litigation”, the Court said.
“The Court is resourceful enough to take appropriate action in the matter and as such deems it appropriate to take action in the matter pertaining to the bogus filing of the bail application of which notice was given in the office of the Government Advocate, High Court, Allahabad on June 22, 2021 which was allotted Notice and the bail application was presented for reporting in the office of the Stamp Reporter (Criminal) of the Court on June 28, 2021 and then the same was presented in the concerned office for being placed before the Court on July 02, 2021 and is thus before the Court”,
-the order reads.
The Court ordered,
“The Registrar General of the Court is thus directed to register a First Information Report in the matter for which an investigation is needed to be done seriously so as to cull out the truth and appropriate action be taken against person(s) involved in the bogus and clandestine filing of the bail application before the Court. They need to be done within one month from today.”
The Senior Superintendent of Police, Prayagraj is directed to ensure that the investigation is done by a responsible and a competent police officer efficiently.
Let the matter be listed on October 25, 2021 before the Court along with a compliance report of the Registrar General and the learned Additional Government Advocate for further orders.