Person declared as foreigner gets no relief from Gauhati High Court

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The Gauhati High Court has said that the inherent power under Section 482 CrPC cannot be exercised in a routine manner unless it is shown that the miscarriage of justice has been done in a given case. The court, therefore, refused to interfere with an order of the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM), Cachar.

Justice Rumi Kumari Phukan was hearing a petition (Crl.Pet./128/2020) filed by Amir Khan to quash the order dated 10.07.2019, passed by the CJM, Cachar at Silchar, in PRC Case No. 913/2019 (arising out in connection with the Silchar PS Case No.485/2019, under Section 14(A)/14(C) of the Foreigners Act.

On February 10, 2019, Anjan Kumar Roy, the in-charge of Rangikhari Town Out Post lodged an FIR after receiving the information that some Rahingiya people were residing as tenants in the Sonarighat area. Accordingly, he along with others conducted a raid and found eight people as tenants in a house. They admitted that they have come from Bangladesh via Tripura and were residing there for the last four months as tenants. They were taken into custody and produced before the court of the CJM, Cachar at Silchar. The police registered a case against the accused persons vide Silchar PS Case No.485/2019 and after completion of the investigation, the police submitted the charge sheet vide Charge Sheet No.327/2019. On committal of the case, the court of the CJM, Cachar registered the PRC Case No.913/2019 and framed the charge under Section 14-A of the Foreigners' Act, against the petitioner (Amir Khan) along with others.

The accused persons pleaded guilty to the offence and accordingly, each of them were convicted to undergo simple imprisonment for two years and fine of Rs.10,000, in default further imprisonment for two months. The court also directed the Deputy Commissioner, Cachar to take necessary steps for their deportation after completion of their jail term.

The petitioner then approached the Gauhati High Court claiming that he is a permanent resident of village Motinagar of West Tripura district. In support of his claim, the petitioner produced birth certificate and school certificate. He said that he was not a foreigner and upon wrong advice of the engaged counsel, the accused persons had pleaded guilty and accordingly, they were convicted by the court of the CJM, Cachar.

Noting that the petitioner had failed to produce any sort of documents at the time of investigation, the Gauhati High Court refused to exercise its discretionary inherent powers under Section 482 CrPC. The court order stated, "The petitioner on being pleaded guilty and serving around one year sentence, has come up with the present petition with certain documents, which he never produced before the I/O as well as before the court, now challenged the impugned order, which cannot be accepted. There appears no any illegality in the order so passed to invoke the provision under Section 482 CrPC. The inherent power under Section 482 CrPC cannot be exercised in a routine manner unless it is shown that the miscarriage of justice has been done in a given case. There being no such cogent ground to interfere with the order passed by the learned trial court, the petition is hereby dismissed."

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