V.K.JHANJI,J - (1.) THE present petition under Articles 226/227 of the Constitution of India has been filed by the petitioner, who is an Assistant in the office of Sub Divisional Education Officer, Naraingarh, Ambala, for issuance of a writ in the nature of Mandamus commanding the respondents to remove/delete the name of the petitioner from Police Surveillance Register No. X kept in Police Station, Ambala City and quash/close the history-sheet of the petitioner opened under the Punjab Police Rules, 1934.
(2.) ACCORDING to the petitioner, he is a social worker and remained General Secretary of Haryana Swarankar Sangh from 1984 to 1988 and also remained as General Secretary of Ambala City Swarankar Sangh. According to him, he is now the President of Ministerial Staff/Association (Education Department), Distt. Ambala as also the President of Clerical Manch of all ministerial staff working in District Ambala, belonging to different departments of the Haryana Government, besides being the General Secretary of Jan Kalyan Samiti, District Ambala. Petitioner has been voicing public grievances against the police and had reported many cases of extortion/bribery etc. In the petition, he has given particulars of such cases, including the incident which occurred in the month of June 1992, when the police party belonging to Ambala Police force killed three innocent persons (two men and one child) of village Dhulkot by taking them to be terrorists from Punjab and against this incident, there was a great public resentment qua Ambala police. There was a complete hartal for a number of days, the roads were blocked and various social organisations, trade unions and political parties condemned the killing of aforesaid three innocent persons. There were processions against the police atrocities and in order to pacify the general public, Dhyan Singh, then Sub Inspector and some constables were arrested and challenged under Section 302 I.P.C. On 13.6.1992, the bodies of aforesaid three innocent persons who died due to police firing, were cremated in which thousands of mourners belonging to all communities participated. Petitioner was among the persons who led the procession in which slogans were raised against the police and the petitioner addressed the processionists at a number of places and spoke against the Superintendent of Police, Ambala and demanded his dismissal. This criticism created inimical relations of the petitioner with respondent No. 2 who began to bear a grudge against the petitioner. Subsequently, petitioner came to know that his name has been written on the board displayed in the police station, Ambala City, in Basta 'A' of Bad Character entered in Register No. X Part-II and his history-sheet has been opened under the Punjab Police Rules, 1934, The present petition has been filed for removing/deleting the name of the petitioner from Basta 'A' of Bad Characters of Register No. X, Part-II and quash/close the history-sheet of the petitioner opened under Punjab Police Rules, 1934. Notice of the petition was given to the respondents. In the written statement filed on behalf of the respondents, it has been stated that history-sheet of the petitioner was opened on the basis of report of Inspector, Jai Parkash, who in his report dated 5.11.1987 had submitted that the petitioner used to threaten the public and aroused the communal feelings of Hindu and Sikhs, besides being habitual of giving false evidence in Courts.
(3.) AFTER hearing the learned counsel and on going through the pleadings carefully, I am of the view that the petition deserves to succeed. The relevant provisions of the Punjab Police Rules, 1934, under which the name of the petitioner stands entered, read as under : "23.4 SURVEILLANCE REGISTER NO. X (3) In Part II of such register may be entered at the discretion of the Superintendent (a) Persons who have been convicted twice, or more than twice, of offences mentioned in rule 27, 29; (b) Persons who are reasonably believed to be habitual offenders or receivers of stolen property whether they have been convicted or not; (c) Persons under security under sections 109 and 110, Code of Criminal Procedure; (d) Convicts released before the expiration of their sentences under the Prisons Act and Remission Rules without the imposition of any conditions. NOTE : This rule must be strictly construed and entries must be confined to the names of persons falling in the four classes named therein.23.9 - HISTORY SHEETS WHEN OPENED : (1) A history-sheet, if one does not already exist, shall be opened in Form 23.9 for every person whose name is entered in the Surveillance Register, except conditionally released convicts. (2) A history-sheet may be opened by, or under the written orders of, a police officer not below the rank of inspector for any person not entered in the Surveillance Register who is reasonably believed to be habitually addicted to crime or to be an aider or abettor of such persons. (3) The Government Railway Police will maintain the history sheets of criminals known or suspected to operate on the railway in accordance with police Rule 238. They will open history sheets themselves for criminals living in railway premises, who have been absent from their original homes so long that the railway premises may be regarded as their permanent residence. They may also open history sheets for wandering strangers reasonably believed to be habitually addicted to crime on the railway, whose original homes cannot be traced..." ;