Delhi High Court orders police probe after lawyer forges court order

The Delhi High Court recently ordered its Registrar General to lodge a police complaint after it came to know that a lawyer appointed to help undertrial prisoners had forged/ manufactured an order which was never passed by the High Court [Court on its own motion v State]..Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma initiated a suo motu case after noting that the lawyer had handed over a copy of the forged order to the accused and her mother. The Court said that it was “alarming, shocking as well as disconcerting” that a forged/fabricated/ manufactured bail order of the High Court was prepared and handed over to the accused who in turn handed it over to her mother, when she had visited her in jail.“It is a very serious matter of prima facie forgery and fabrication of order of Delhi High Court which requires investigation, as it is not only about alleged forgery of a bail order, which itself is a serious offence and a matter of grave concern, but together with it is another crucial accompanying issue that the forged/fabricated order had been allegedly handed over to an undertrial prisoner by a jail visiting advocate, who has been appointed to assist and help the undertrials,” the Court.It ordered that a police complaint be lodged and also directed that the concerned police officer should take immediate action. “In these circumstances, let copy of this order, along with the alleged order dated 18.11.2023 produced by Smt. Saira Bano [mother of the inmate] and the original order of this Court dated 18.09.2023 passed in another case and the statement of Smt. Saira Bano recorded before this Court, be sent to the Registrar General of this Court, who is directed to lodge a complaint, either himself or through his authorized representative, with the concerned Station House Officer (SHO). The SHO concerned shall conduct an enquiry forthwith and proceed as per law," the order said. .The Court passed the order after a woman named Saira Bano appeared and told the Court that Ms. X, who is a jail visiting advocate, was pursuing her daughter's bail plea. The lawyer had given an order of the High Court to her daughter in jail, in which it was mentioned that the order on her bail application had been reserved after hearing arguments on November 18, 2023.She further told the Court that when she visited her daughter in jail, her daughter asked her to inquire about the status of her bail application.Bano then approached the High Court to find out the same. Bano also handed over a copy of the order purported to have been passed by the High Court on November 18, 2023 wherein arguments were heard and order was reserved. After checking the records, it was found that no such bail application ever came to be registered before the Delhi High Court."This Court, being surprised about the pendency of any such bail application reserved for orders before this Court for allegedly four months had checked the records of the Court and had found that the details of such application or arguments being heard in this application is not reflected in the records of this Court. 6. Upon further checking the records, it has been found that no bail application with number 6753/2023 has been filed before this Court ever, and that the alleged date of the hearing of bail application and reserving of the bail order is mentioned as November 18, 2023 which happens to be Saturday i.e. a holiday," the single-judge noted..Hence, it proceeded to order registration of police complaint.The High Court also appointed advocate Harsh Prabhakar as amicus curiae to assist the Bano’s daughter who is in judicial custody. .The High Court explained the procedure for people to check the authenticity of its orders and judgments in following ways:Authentic orders downloaded from the website of this Court i.e. ‘https://delhihighcourt.nic.in’ will feature an ‘emblem’ of Delhi High Court and a ‘QR code’ for verification on the top of the order, and a timestamp indicating when the order was downloaded from the site of Delhi High Court on the bottom of the order.Similarly, in the case of a judgment downloaded from the Delhi High Court's website, it will include a ‘QR Code’ that can be scanned for verification. The judgment will also bear a digital signature that will be visible on every page of the judgment. Thus, the parties can independently access orders or judgments on the Delhi High Court’s website, which is designed in a user-friendly format in addition to the assistance of their counsels in this regard.Further, every order or judgment can be downloaded from the website of the Delhi High Court free of cost i.e. without payment of any money. .For dasti orders, the Court suggested the following method:.It finally requested the Registrar to get this order translated in Hindi and have it published on the website of the High Court.“Let a copy of this order be forwarded to Jail Superintendents of all Delhi Prisons, for bringing the same to the knowledge of prisoners, whether under-trials or convicts. A copy be also forwarded to Member Secretary, DSLSA and Secretary, DHCLSC, as well as to the Principal District & Sessions Judge, Head Quarter and all the Principal & District Judges of Delhi for information,” Justice Sharma added..[Read Order]