Kerala High Court Orders Removal Of Man’s Name With 8-Year Clean Record From List
The Kerala Excessive Court docket has lately directed the removing of the title of an individual from the rowdy listing of Fort Kochi Police Station since he has not been concerned in any prison exercise for the previous 8 years.
Justice P.V. Kunhikrishnan cited that reformation is the principle aim of Indian prison jurisprudence and therefore, an individual on the trail of reformation needn’t be retained within the rowdy listing of the police.
The petitioner’s title and {photograph} had been added within the Rowdy listing of the Fort Kochi Police Station, inside the jurisdiction of which he has been dwelling all through his life. He was concerned in 18 prison instances over a span of 13 years. Out of those 18 instances, he was acquitted in 16 instances. In a single case, the chargesheet was quashed by the Excessive Court docket. Within the remaining one case, the petitioner is the 8th accused out of the 15 accused individuals, and he’s on bail within the case.
The petitioner’s counsel mentioned that when an individual comes with a clear slate of nil crime for about 8 years, his prayer to take away his title from the rowdy historical past listing is to be thought-about by the police authorities.
Presently, no crime is pending in opposition to the petitioner within the Fort Kochi Police Station. Furthermore, no prison case has been registered in opposition to the petitioner for the final 8 years. Being aggrieved by the truth that his title and {photograph} had been added within the Rowdy listing, the petitioner approached the Excessive Court docket.
In the meantime the State argued that petitioner is concerned in instances from 20.06.2004 to 21.06.2017, i.e, for about 13 years. The Public Prosecutor additionally submitted that the offences alleged in a few of the instances consists of the offences underneath Sections 397, 307, 308, 395, 363 & 365 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, Part 27 of the Arms Act and Sections 55(a) and eight(g) of the Kerala Abkari Act.
The Public Prosecutor submitted that the petitioner is now engaged in the true property enterprise and has been always in touch with the suspected individuals and people who find themselves engaged in prison actions. Due to this fact, he mentioned that the petitioner is underneath shut watch and that is why he’s abstaining from prison actions for now. However contemplating his earlier prison antecedents, his current evasion can’t be trusted, the state submitted.
On the outset, the courtroom in its order contemplated If a ‘rowdy cap’ is given to an individual, ought to that cap proceed till his demise?
Noting that the final case registered in opposition to the petitioner was in 2017 and that he has had a clear slate since then, the Court docket remarked, “as soon as a rowdy needn’t all the time be a rowdy…An individual isn’t born as a prison. The society and all of us create criminals due to sure conditions which ought to be averted. Due to this fact, each citizen has an obligation to see that the criminals are going on a reformatory pathway.”
It additionally took into consideration the truth that there is just one prison case pending in opposition to the petitioner and that no case is registered in any police station in Ernakulam district.
Thus, the Court docket allowed the writ petition and directed the Police authorities to take away Petitioner’s title and {photograph} from the rowdy listing gallery of the Fort Kochi Police Station.
Case Title: WP(C) No. 16614 of 2025
Case No: XXX v. Metropolis Police Commissioner, Kochi and Ors.
Quotation: 2025 LiveLaw (Ker) 380
Counsel for the petitioner: Shabu Sreedharan
Counsel for the respondents: P. Narayanan, Senior Public Prosecutor, Sajju.S., Senior Authorities Pleader
