"Underbelly of criminal law practice:" Delhi HC orders probe after accused, lawyer collude to secure interim bail on forged COVID-19 certificate

The Delhi High Court on Thursday ordered an inquiry into an incident in which an accused absconded after misleading the Court by producing a false COVID-19 positive report in order to secure interim bail (Narender Kasana v. State of NCT of Delhi). .Justice Prathiba M Singh took strong exception to the fact that the accused, his relatives and one of the lawyers had colluded to mislead the Court to secure interim bail. The Court also chastised the police authorities for callousness during investigation due to which authenticity of the report was not determined."The practices adopted in this case, by the Petitioner, his relatives, one of the counsels as also the callousness of the police authorities, clearly reveals the underbelly of the practice of criminal law," the judge said. Counsel who appear in such matters have a greater duty towards the court to ensure that the majesty of the court is not lowered and that courts are not misled into passing orders based on forged and fabricated documents and misleading facts, she added. "The faith of courts in counsel would be completely eroded if such conduct is indulged in by counsel," the Court noted. The Court, therefore, directed the Registrar General to refer the matter to the court of the concerned judicial magistrate to conduct an inquiry and proceed against all of those concerned in accordance with the law..By way of background, the accused, Narender Kasan had initially obtained interim bail from the trial court. The Delhi High Court granted an extension of the petitioner’s interim bail based on a test report showing him to be Covid positive..Following this, the petitioner absconded. A subsequent inquiry conducted by the Registrar (Vigilance) revealed that the test report showing the petitioner as Covid positive, was forged and fabricated. It became further evident that the petitioner, his nephews, the counsel Anand Kataria and a nursing assistant at District MMG Hospital had colluded with an intention to hoodwink the Court.."The facts set out above and the contents/conclusions in the Inquiry Report, reveal that the Petitioner, his nephews and the counsel- Mr. Anand Kataria have been complicit and have colluded with each other. They have made deliberate attempts to mislead this Court. Clearly, the police authorities also appear to have not performed their duties as was required and expected of them in verifying the CDR records as also the Covid-19 test report. However, whether the conduct of the police was with a criminal intent or in collusion with the Petitioner/his nephews and his counsel, is not clear at this stage," the order said. .The Court stressed on the need for petitioners to approach courts with clean hands. “It hardly needs reiteration that parties who come to Court have to come with clean hands. Especially during the pandemic, the Courts have been empathetic and compassionate towards persons who have been infected with Covid-19. Thus, to encash upon this empathy of Courts and to place on record forged and fabricated test reports is not condonable, at all,” the Court said. .The Court heavily censured the counsel for their conduct and proceeded to order an inquiry. "This Court is clearly of the opinion that all persons concerned need to be proceeded against with, in accordance with law. Accordingly, in exercise of powers under Section 340 Cr.P.C. read with Section 195 Cr.PC., this Court directs the worthy Registrar General to refer the matter to the Court of the concerned Judicial Magistrate to conduct an inquiry and proceed in accordance with law against the Petitioner, Narender Kasana @Narendra Kumar, his four nephews-Mr. Akash, Mr. Ashu, Mr. Nitin and Mr. Ankur; Mr. Ashish, the nursing assistant at the District MMG Hospital and the counsel- Mr. Anand Kataria," the Court directed. .Advocates Abhijat, Shaashwat Jindal and Arpit Kumar Singh appeared for the accused lawyers, while Senior Advocate Rahul Mehra along with Advocate Chaitanya Gosain appeared for the NCT of Delhi. .[Read Order]