- (1.) THESE are two rules obtained against the State of the Punjab and two others, one under Article 226 of the Constitution and Section 491, Criminal P. C. and the other under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India.
(2.) IN Criminal Writ No. 22 of 1953 it was alleged in the petition dated 17-6-1953 that a woman bachan Kaur (her Mohammadan name was Mst. Rusmat) was married to Ram Singh petitioner about ten years ago and there was a document to support this marriage and this document had been taken possession of by the police when the said Bachan Kaur was "arrested by the police" on 21-5-1953, that Bachan Kaur had been living as the wife of the petitioner for a period of about ten years and had been taken into custody from the house of the petitioner along with four children who were born after 15-8-1947. Writ of 'habeas corpus' was prayed for in this case. These allegations were denied by Miss S. K. Fatima, Camp Commandant of the Muslim Camp at Jullundur. An application was later made on 20-7-1953, for the production of this woman in court, The petition was granted but subsequently the order for production was discharged. Miss Mridula Sarabhai made an affidavit on 13-8-1953 in this petition in which the marriage was denied as also the taking into possession of the document evidencing marriage and it was stated that Bachan Kaur was really Mussummat Rus-mat and that she had been abducted a month before the breaking out of the disturbances in 1947 and that as the woman was an abducted person she had been rightly taken into custody by the Abducted Persons Recovery staff. Another affidavit was filed by Miss Mridula Sarabhai on 1-10-1953, but it is not necessary to give the contents of this affidavit. The matter was originally before Soni J. and as one of the prayers was that the petitioner should be allowed to see the woman the matter was referred to a Division bench.
(3.) THE matter was then placed before Soni J. and myself and as by then (by an order dated 24-9-1953) the woman was found by the Tribunal appointed under the Abducted Persons (Recovery and Restoration) Amendment Act, 1952 (Act 77 of 1952), hereinafter to be termed the act, to be an abducted person, we allowed an amendment of the petition particularly as many questions arose as a result of this determination. In the case of Bachan Kaur the amended petition praying for writs of 'certiorari' and 'habeas corpus' was filed on 21-10-1953, which is supported by an affidavit. It was alleged that Bachan Kaur is not an abducted person as she eloped with the petitioner long before the disturbances, had embraced 'sikhism, had married Ram Singh, her previous husband being dead, that the enquiry before the Tribunal was illegal on account of undue pressure brought on Bachan Kaur and because the witnesses from Pakistan were not examined in the presence of the petitioner and the procedure which was followed contravened the principles of natural justice. It was also submitted that Ram Singh should be allowed to interview Mst. Bachan Kaur so that she may be able to exercise her unfettered or free choice to stay in India or to go to Pakistan. Thus in this application there were three prayers (i) for the issuing of a writ of habeas corpus (ii) for a writ of 'certiorari' for quashing the order passed by the Tribunal on 24-9-1953; and (iii) for the petitioner being allowed to interview Bachan Kaur.;