By: Sajid Raina
SRINAGAR: The Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court criticised state counsel for his inability to read arrest memos in Urdu, which has severely hampered judicial proceedings. Hearing the case, Justice Atul Sreedharan issued a warning that if such issues persist, the court may summon Investigating Officers (IOs) for every bail application to ensure proper judicial assistance.
These remarks were made during a bail application hearing of Aijaz Ahmed, represented by Mumtaz Choudhary. Ahmed claimed to have been in judicial custody since October 23, 2020, following an incident on October 22, 2020. However, the First Information Report (FIR) was filed on November 30, 2020, approximately 40 days after Ahmed’s arrest.
Justice Sreedharan, asked the government counsel to read out the arrest memorandum to gain a clearer understanding of the situation. However, the state counsel was unable to furnish the document as it was in Urdu, revealing a significant gap in the legal process.
Highlighting the “strange state of affairs” in Jammu and Kashmir, the court regretted the situation. “In order to have a better appreciation of the case, this Court asked the learned counsel for the State to place before this Court the memorandum of arrest of the applicant. He has expressed his inability to do so as the documents are in Urdu,” the two page order reads. “A strange state of affairs exists in this UT of J&K, the documents prepared by the Police are in Urdu and the counsel of the State are incapable of reading it.”
The order said the issues pertains to a bail application. “The applicant, as stated by the learned counsel for the applicant, has been in judicial custody since 23.10.2020, incident is of 22.10.2020 and the FIR is of 30.11.2020. The FIR has been registered almost 40 days after the applicant had been taken into custody, if the submissions made by learned counsel for the applicant are taken to be correct,” the order reads.
Under the circumstances, the court observed, there is no assistance to the court in order to expeditiously hear and decide the bail applications. “If this condition continues, the Court would have no other option but to call the Investigating Officers in each and every bail application and direct the AG office to ensure that the I.O in each of these cases are present before this Court. However, in order to ascertain as to when the applicant was arrested, list this case on 02.07.2024 on top of the list. The Investigating Officer of this case shall be present before this Court tomorrow. This Court shall bring no excuse if the I.O is not available tomorrow to assist this Court and if he does not remain present, this Court shall resort to coercive measures to secure his presence,” it added.
A copy of the order was dispatched to the Superintendent of Police of District Poonch with the directive to ensure adherence.
