RAJ KUMAR
Ranchi, June 28: The Jharkhand High Court today took suo moto cognizance of a newspaper report saying how the land mafias tried to grab the land belonging late Justice M.Y. Eqbal, a Supreme Court judge, and directed the registry to institute a suo motu writ petition arraying the chief secretary, home secretary, Ranchi senior superintendent of police (SSP) and Lower Bazar police station officer-in-charge.
The high court also directed ADGP (communication and technical services) R.K.Mallick to conduct an inquiry in the matter and appointed Atanu Banerjee to assist the court in the matter. The court has directed Mallick to find the records indicating stationing and locations of PCRs, requisition call or calls made to the officer-in-charge or in the police station reporting the incident and any other record which may be necessary for unearthing the truth.
The high court directed the SSP to file his personal affidavit and give details of the cases registered in the district of Ranchi making complaints of the aforesaid nature, status of such complaints and FIRs and the action taken pursuant to such complaints. The affidavits must give details as regard action taken to bust such gangs and arrest the persons behind such incidents, the court directed.
The high court has directed the home secretary to file an affidavit giving details of the monthly meetings held in the last six months and the decisions taken in the monthly meetings as regards maintenance of law and order and safety of the common men.
A Division bench of Justices S Chandrashekhar and Ratnakar Bhengra took the cognizance on the basis of newspaper reports.
“…..We have experienced on the judicial side that gangs of land grabbers are operating in the state of Jharkhand, one of such cases was WP (Cr) No.59 of 2022. The report published in the daily newspaper….raises a serious concern to protection of life and property of the residents of Ranchi. We would assume that the situation is within the knowledge of the state administration as several petitions have been filed in the High Court complaining against attempts of land grabbing and demand of ransom by such gangs and the crimes of nature,…” the court observed.
The court further observed that ”……We would indicate that ‘the person’ whose land was attempted to be grabbed by a gang of criminals and land grabbers is not important. The situation which this court has come across is the reason this court has taken cognizance of the matter. After all, a person by becoming a judge does not lose his rights which every common man of this country possesses. The acts of vandalism and attempt to grab lands belonging to others may not necessarily affect the security of the state but would necessarily affect the public order. Such acts are likely to shake the confidence of the people in the system…prima facie, it appears to us that there are other outside forces which are instigating such incidents and protecting the anti-social elements and land grabbers. To ensure security of the common man is not merely a legal duty of the state but a constitutional mandate. If the citizens are forced to live in an atmosphere where they would apprehend loss of property, that would herald the end of rule of law.”
The court has directed the registry to post the matter on July 18 before the appropriate bench after taking necessary order from the chief justice.
Last Sunday, land grabbers attempted to grab the land in broad daylight. Encroachers had demolished a portion of the boundary wall around the land in order to grab the land. An FIR was registered in this connection at the Lower Bazar police station on the same day.
