Man missing from police custody declared dead, found alive 14 years later

A murdered man was found alive. Interestingly, it is not the script of a Bollywood movie but part of a case file being examined by the Supreme Court.

The case dates back to 2005, when the Punjab police arrested a man under the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS) and later claimed that he escaped from custody. His father filed a habeas corpus and a few days later, a body was found and it was assumed that it was of the accused person arrested under the NDPS charges.

Incidentally, the man was found alive after 14 years.

Now, the top court is dealing with an appeal filed by one Naginder Singh, father of the man who went missing from police custody in 2005. The case was listed on October 4 before a bench of justices BV Nagarathna and N Kotiswar Singh, which adjourned the matter for February 14, 2025.

Naginder Singh, in his special leave petition, has challenged the Punjab and Haryana high court order dated January 12, 2021, which quashed his protest petition and the trial court order dated December 12, 2017 summoning the police officials concerned. The Punjab police has opposed the appeal.

Naginder Singh, who is represented by advocates Pallavi Pratap, Prashant Pratap, and Amjid Maqbool, in his plea said that his son Hardeep Singh was arrested by the police on August 24, 2005, under the provisions of the NDPS Act from Ludhiana's Dehlon. Two First Information Reports were lodged under Sections 15 and 25 of the NDPS Act, 1985 against Hardeep Singh.

Next day Naginder Singh came to know that his son had escaped from police custody.

When the police party was taking Hardeep Singh in a government vehicle to produce him before the concerned magistrate, he escaped from the police custody, and another FIR dated August 25, 2005, was registered against him under Section 224 IPC, the Punjab police said.

Thereafter, Naginder Singh filed a habeas corpus to produce his son Hardeep Singh, on the pretext that he has been illegally detained by the police in Dehlon police station, Ludhiana. A warrant officer was appointed but Hardeep Singh could not be traced. Later on, on September 17, 2005, the dead body of an unknown person was found and a post-mortem was conducted.

Thereafter, the complainant alleged that the body was of his son and that the accused police officials had murdered him. However, Narinder Singh, in his appeal before the top court, has clarified that he came to know from someone that an unidentified dead body had been recovered from a water pond and the same was cremated by the police officials in haste. 

Against the backdrop of these facts, the HC had directed the additional director general of police (crime), to get an enquiry conducted and submit a report.

"The additional inspector general of police (crime) had given a report that the dead body recovered from the pond was not of the son of the complainant and that he was alive and was in regular touch with the complainant (father)."

Thereafter, the court directed the sessions judge, Ludhiana, to hold an enquiry and submit a report about the whereabouts of the son of the complainant. The sessions judge submitted an enquiry report on August 31, 2008, holding that the son of the complainant was eliminated by the police while in custody.

In view of the said report, the court on May 21, 2010, directed to register an FIR against the accused police officials and thus, an FIR dated August 21, 2010, was registered under Sections 302 and 201 IPC at Dehlon, Ludhiana.

During the investigation of the FIR, an SIT was constituted which again submitted a report that the son of the complainant was alive as no evidence has come against the accused persons and in fact, Hardeep Singh had escaped from the police custody. On the basis of the report, a cancellation report dated October 31, 2011, was filed before the magistrate.

The complainant, thereafter, filed a protest petition. The judicial magistrate vide the impugned order dated December 7, 2017, summoned the petitioners to face trial under Sections 302/201/34 IPC. The police officials challenged the order before the sessions court which was dismissed.

In the meantime, the magistrate in August 2019 issued non-bailable warrants against the police officials and on September 2, 2019, the cops through their counsel moved an application before the trial court and claimed that Hardeep Singh was in fact, alive and he was declared a proclaimed offender in the FIR dated August 25, 2005, and now, he has been arrested and he is in judicial custody.

Subsequently, the Punjab and Haryana HC ruled in favour of the police officials, observing that the assumed dead man was alive and quashed the protest petition as well as the impugned summoning order passed by the judicial magistrate, Ludhiana, and discharged the policemen.

In its order Punjab and Haryana HC order said, "A murdered man was found alive. Still, the 15 years long agony of the petitioners (hereinafter referred to as 'the accused') is not buried by the courts."

The Punjab and Haryana high court in its order dated January 12, 2021, also held that Naginder Singh is liable for proceedings under section 340, CrPC and that the sum payable to the respondent police officials by the State Legal Services Authority was recoverable from him as well.

Challenging the decision of the HC, Narinder Singh said that while proceedings for murder may not be maintainable against the police officials, other offences dealing with illegal detention, attempt to murder, grievous hurt, wrongful restraint and wrongful confinement are still made out against them.

"Be that as it may, even if the impugned proceeding under Section 302 IPC were no longer maintainable against the respondents yet, other cognizable and non-bailable offences, viz, illegal detention/confinement, attempt to murder, grievous hurt, wrongful restraint and wrongful confinement, criminal force and assault, criminal intimidation etc, were still made out against the respondents and the high court proceeded to quash the entire proceedings wholly on untenable grounds," the petition copy read.

Explaining how his son suddenly reappeared, the petitioner father, in his plea, said, "Meanwhile, vide order dated August 19, 2019, learned JMIC, Ludhiana proceeded to issue non-bailable warrants against the respondents. During this period, shockingly, Hardeep Singh was found alive and arrested by the police."

"As a matter of fact, for all 14 years, the police officials had kept Hardeep Singh in illegal detention and tortured him in an inhuman manner. The sole reason for producing Hardeep Singh by the aforesaid police officials was to save themselves from the wrath of criminal prosecution initiated against them under section 302 of IPC. Police officials, in order to cover their illegal acts of detention of Hardeep Singh, filed another FIR No. 175 dated 03.09.2019 u/s 174-A IPC. The said FIR also mentioned that Hardeep Singh was declared as proclaimed offender on December 16, 2005, ie, 3 months after the dead body of Hardeep Singh was found," the petition read. 

"However, a dead person cannot be a proclaimed offender. It clearly establishes the conspiracy hatched by the police officials," the father said.