Proclamation for person absconding
AI Assist
Summary
When a court believes a person against whom it has issued a warrant is absconding or hiding, it can publish a written proclamation ordering that person to appear at a specified place and time not less than 30 days after publication. The proclamation must be publicly read, affixed to the person’s house and the court house, and may be published in a local newspaper; the court’s written certificate of publication is conclusive evidence. For certain serious offences, failure to appear can lead, after inquiry, to the person being declared a proclaimed offender.
Example
Aditya is accused of robbery and a warrant is issued, but he goes into hiding. The magistrate publishes a proclamation ordering him to appear at the sessions court 40 days after publication; it is read aloud in his village and affixed to his house and the court house. When Aditya still does not appear, the court after inquiry may declare him a proclaimed offender.
Bare Act
Enacted text(1) If Any Court has reason to believe (whether after taking evidence or not) that any person against whom a warrant has been issued by it has absconded or is concealing himself so that such warrant cannot be executed, such Court may publish a written proclamation requiring him to appear at a specific place and at a specified time not less than thirty days from the date of publishing such proclamation.
(2) The proclamation shall be published as follows-
(i) a) it shall be publicly read in some conspicuous place of the town or village in which such person ordinarily resides;
b) it shall be affixed to some conspicuous part of the house or home-stead in which such person ordinarily resides or to some conspicuous place of such town or village;
c) a copy thereof shall be affixed to some conspicuous part of the Court house;
(ii) the Court may also, if it thinks fit, direct a copy of the proclamation to be published in a daily newspaper circulating in the place in which such person ordinarily resides.
(3) A statement in writing by the Court issuing the proclamation to the effect that the proclamation was duly published on a specified day, in the manner specified in clause (i) of Sub-Section (2), shall be conclusive evidence that the requirements of this section have been complied with, and that the proclamation was published on such day.
(4) Where a proclamation published under Sub-Section (1) is in respect of a person accused of an offence punishable under section 302, 304, 364, 367, 382, 392, 393, 394, 395, 396, 397, 398, 399, 400, 402, 436, 449, 459 or 460 of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860) and such person fails to appear at the specified place and time required by the proclamation, the Court may, after making such inquiry as it thinks fit, pronounce him a proclaimed offender and make a declaration to that effect.
(5) The provisions of Sub-Sections (2) and (3) shall apply to a declaration made by the Court under Sub-Section (4) as they apply to the proclamation published under Sub-Section (1).
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