- (1.) Heard Sri Raj Kumar Sharma, Advocate for petitioner and Sri Udit Chandra, learned A.G.A. as well as Sri R.P.S. Chauhan, Advocate for respondents.
(2.) Petitioner has assailed constitutional validity of Section 197(1) of Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (hereinafter referred to as "Cr.P.C.") as violative of Articles 14 and 16 of Constitution of India to the extent those public servants are excluded who are not removable by State Government. It has also sought a mandamus commanding Respondents-1 and 2 to amend Section 197(1) so as to include petitioner as well as those public servants who are not removable by State Government or Central Government. Petitioner has further sought a writ of certiorari to quash entire criminal proceedings in Criminal Case No. 5375 of 2005 as also order dated 10.12.2015 passed by Chief Judicial Magistrate, Ghazipur taking cognizance upon charge sheet No. 41A/14 dated 30.08.2014, arising out of Case Crime No. 244 of 2014, under Sections 323, 504, 325, 302 IPC, Police Station Kotwali Ghazipur, District Ghazipur. Petitioner has also sought a writ of mandamus commanding respondents to obtain sanction from appropriate authority before prosecuting petitioner.
(3.) Facts, in brief, giving rise to present writ petition are that petitioner was appointed as Deputy Jailer in 2001 and initially posted at District Jail, Pratapgarh wherefrom he was transferred to different District Jails and in 2014 posted at District Jail Ghazipur. On 14.02.2014 petitioner was discharging his duties as Deputy Jailer as also Jailer Incharge of District Jail, Ghazipur since the post of Jailer was vacant and Jail Superintendent was on leave. On the said day petitioner alongwith other Jail Officials made search operations to find out use of illegal means for communication, i.e., Mobile Phones etc., when some inmates resisted and even attacked petitioner and his colleagues in planned manner so as to escape from Jail. They also started pelting stones forcing petitioner and his team to return to barracks. Aforesaid inmates while causing violence on petitioner and his team also caused destruction of Government property in order to break main gate of Jail. In respect of above destruction of public property and violence caused by some prisoners, petitioner lodged First Information Report (hereinafter referred to as "FIR") dated 14.02.2014 as Case Crime No. 243 of 2014 for the offences under Sections 353, 332, 147, 148, 149, 307, 336, 436, 436, 427 IPC at Police Station Kotwali Ghazipur. The violence also caused injury to petitioner and his colleagues. Petitioner sustained injury in his left hand leading to fracture of second metacarpal bone of left index finger, besides other injuries. The miscreants in Jail also attacked jail vehicles parked in jail campus. The said incident caused death of one, Vishwanath Prajapati, a prisoner, due to gun shot injury, he sustained on his left thigh, and later succumbed due to excessive bleeding.;