Holding

The High Court exceeded its powers under Article 226; its order quashing the sanction and cognizance is set aside and the Designated Court must proceed with the prosecution under TADA.

Summary

The State of West Bengal appealed against the Calcutta High Court’s order quashing the sanction and the taking of cognizance in a TADA case involving a 1993 bomb explosion that killed 69 people. The High Court had held that the sanction order was invalid, that the Designated Court’s cognizance was not reasoned, and that the preparation of bombs could not be read as an intent to terrorise because the accused claimed self‑defence. The Supreme Court held that the High Court exceeded its jurisdiction under Article 226, as it cannot scrutinise the merits of the charge‑sheet or perform a pre‑trial exercise; the sanction order, on its face, showed that the Commissioner had perused the police material and must be accepted, and the preparation and possession of bombs constitute an offence under Sections 3 and 4 of TADA. Consequently, the High Court’s order was set aside and the Designated Court was directed to proceed with the trial. The criminal appeals were allowed.

Issues considered

The scope of Article 226 writ jurisdiction to quash a TADA sanction order and taking of cognizance
Whether the High Court can examine the merits of the charge‑sheet and act as a pre‑trial court
Validity of the sanction order under Section 20A(2) of TADA – requirement of application of mind and reasoned order
Whether taking cognizance by the Designated Court is a reasoned order under Section 190 CrPC
Whether preparation and possession of bombs amount to an offence under Sections 3 and 4 of TADA
Whether a claim of self‑defence negates the mens rea required under TADA

Legislation cited

Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973s. 173(2), s. 190, s. 190(1)(b), s. 227, s. 482
Explosive Substances Act, 1883s. 3, s. 5
Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1987s. 20A(2), s. 3, s. 4

Subjects

TADAArticle 226Writ jurisdictionSanction orderTaking cognizanceBomb preparationConspiracySelf‑defenceHigh Court jurisdictionCriminal trial pre‑trial scrutiny

Judgment

A STA TE OF WEST BENGAL AND ANR.
v.
MOHAMMAD KHALID AND ORS. ETC. ETC.

NOVEMBER 24, 1994

B [S. MOHAN AND M.K. MUKHERJEE, JJ.]

Constitution of India-Art. 226-Terrorist and Disruptive Activities
(Prevention) Act, 1987-Section 20 A(2) -Sanction to prosecute-Validity
challenged-Limitations of power of High Court-High Court in writ
jurisdiction can interfere only in extreme r;ases-Debatable area-It is not
c amenable to writ jurisdiction-Procedure prescribed under TADA must be
followed including challenging order of Designated Court u/s 19-High
Court not to perform laboured exercise of scrutinising materials-When
order of sanction, on face of it, shows that sanctioning authority perused
police papers-High Court had to necessarily accept these averments on
their face value.
D
Constitution of India-Art. 226-Criminal Procedure Code, 1973-
Section 190-Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1987-
0rder taking cognizance-Not a reasoned order-Whether order liable to
be quashed-Held, No-Whether court taking cognizance can only look at
police report-Held, No.
E
Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1987--Sectfons 3
& 4-Preparation and possession of bombs for self defenc~-Whether
amount to an offence under TADA-Held, Yes.

These criminal appeals are directed against the judgment and
F order of the High Court. quashing the orders of sanction and taking ~-
cognizance of the offences-Writ Petitions were filed in the High Court
challenging the validity of sanction and taking cognizance of the cases
against each of the respondents by the Designated Court under the
Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1987.
G In March, 1993, an explosion occurred in Calcutta in which 69
persons died. Accused were prosecuted on obtaining sanction to . "'
prosecute u/ss. 3 and 5 of the Explosive Substances Act from the State
Government. Sanction u/s 20A(2) of TADA from the Police
Commissioner was also obtained. During investigation it appeared that
for the last S or 6 years accused had been manufacturing bombs. The
H
16
-,

STATE v. MOHAMMAD KHALID 17

sanctioning authority mentioned that the intention of the accused was A
to strike terror on people and that the accused had con~pired and

' prepared to commit disruptive activities.

A writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution was filed by
the accused challenging legality of the order taking cognizance and also
validity of the sanction obtained. B
The High Court by its impugned judgment held that TADA has
been wrongly applied in the case and the order of sanction and further
taking cognizance by the Designated Court was not proper, legal and
valid and the same was quashed.

The State of West Bengal has filed these criminal appeals, alleging
c
that the High Court gravely erred in quashing the order taking
cognizance, by entering the area which is beyond the scope of
jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India; that the
High Court cannot examine the merits of the allegations; that in fact,
what has been done by the High Court was a laboured exercise of D
scrutinising the material placed before the Designated Court, which is
not permissible, and that it has conducted a virtual pre-trial at a pre-
mature stage.

It is submitted that under Article 226 the High Court is not entitled
to go into the validity or otherwise of the order granting sanction for E
>' prosecution. The order of prosecution is required to be proved by
evidence in the course of trial. The order of sanction, on the face of it,
•\ shows that the sanctioning authority had gone through all the reports,
the statement of the witnesses, confessions etc. The High Court has to
~ accept these averments on their face value.
'
F
The High Court has held in the impugned judgment that from the
act of preparation and storage of bombs intention to commit offences
under TADA cannot be inferred as the motive was to defend the
Muslims. It is submitted by the appellants that this finding is shocking
and contrary to the well established principles of self-defence. Then
again, the preparation and keeping of bombs are illegal. This would be G
a terrorist Act u/s 3 (1).

The appellants further contended that the finding of the High
Court that there are no materials in support of allegation of conspiracy
u/s 3 (3) proceeds on misappreciation of the material and is contrary to
the averments contained in the charge-sheet. H
18 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1994] SUPP. 6 S.C.R

A Again, it is alleged that the High Court has clearly gone wrong in
holding that there must be a break down of law enforcing machinery.
That would be a condition precedent for prosecuting the accused for
offences under TADA.

The appellants submitted that the High Court had gone on a totally
·B incorrect premises when it quashed the order taking cognizance on the
ground that it is not a reasoned order; that no reason need be stated;
that the High Court erred in holding that the Court taking cognizance
can only look at Police Report and nothing else; and that the report u/s
173 (2) Cr. P.C. was accompanied by all the documents and statements
and all of them can be looked into.
c
The respondents submitted that a report of the Police Constitutes
the facts found as a result of investigation and it must be held
distinctive. It was further contended that in this case, the sanction was
never produced before the Court; on the contrary, the Court took
cognizance automatically.
D
It was also submitted that it is incorrect to contend that the High
Court has appreciated the evidence, and in order to determine whether
the bar has been removed, it can examine.

The respondents further submitted that if the bombs are intended
E for self defence there is no mens area and consequently, there is no
offence under TADA. It is then urged that the order according sanction
must give reasons.

Allowing the appeal, this Court

HELD: 1.1 The High· Court in writ petition under article 226 can
F
interfere only in extreme cases where charges ex facie do not constitute
offence under TADA. If there is a debatabJe area it is not amenable to
writ jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India and the
gamut of the procedure prescribed under TADA must be followed
including challenging the order ·of .the Designated Court u/s 19 of r
G TADA. The High Court cannot perform a laboured exercise of
scrutinising the materials. [32G, 34C]

State of Maharashtra v. Abdul Hamid Haji Mohammad, (1994] 2 SCC
664; State of Haryana and Ors. v. Bhajan Lal and Ors., [1992) Supp. 1
SCC 335; State of Bihar and Anr. v. P.P. Sharma and Anr., (1992) Supp. 1
H SCC 222; Maninder Kaur v. Rajinder Singh and Ori, (1992) Supp 2 SCC
STATE v. MOHAMMAD KHALID 19

25; Radhey Shyam Khemka and Anr., v. State of Bihar, [1993) 3 SCC 54 A
and State of Bihar v. Murad Ali Khan and Ors., [1988) 4 SCC 655, i:-elied
on.

1.2. Merely because of the failure of the Court to mention that it
had perused the order of sanction while taking cognizance cannot lead
to the conclusion that the existence of the order of sanction could be B
doubted. The finding that there was no order of sanction is not correct
factually. [45 H, 46 A]

1.3. The order of sanction, on the face of it, shows that the
sanctioning authority had perused the Police Papers. The High Court
had to necessarily accept these averments on their face value. The C
correctness or otherwise of the statement could be gone into only at the
time of the trial. The approach of the High Court under Article 226 is
clearly wrong. The submission of respondent that in order to find out
whether a valid sanction existed, the High Court has appreciated the
findings, is not acceptable. {47B, 48 C, 49 G)
D
State of Bihar and Anr. v. P.P. Sharma and Anr., [1992) Supp 1 SCC
222 and Gokulchand Dwarkadas Morarka v. The King, AIR (1948) 35
P.C. 82, relied on.

Ram Kumar v. State ofHaryana, [1987) 2 SCC 476, distinguished.
E
1.4. Question of leading evidence by the prosecution in relation to
conspiracy would arise only during the stage of trial. [51 D]

Wal/i Mohammadv. The King, AIR (1949) PC 103, distinguished.

Alvin Krulswitch v. United State of America, 93 Law Ed. 790, relied F
on.
' 1.5. The very preparation of Bombs and possessions of bombs
would tantamount to terrorising the people. If proved, it will be a
terrorist act and sub-sections (1) and (3) of section 3 of the Terrorist
and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, may also be attracted. The G
existence of 26 live bombs is a clear indication of conspiracy. [53 G)

Ajay Aggarwal v. Union ofIndia, [1993) 3 SCC 609, relied on.

1.6. In the instant case the materials are enough to bring the case
u/s 3 (1) of TADA. Of course, in order to establish this, evidence will H
20 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1994] SUPP. 6 S.C.R

A have to be led in during the trial. If that be so, the question of
mentioning in the sanction order that the ordinary law has broken
down, does not arise. [SS CJ

Kartar Singh v. State of Punjab, JT [1994] 2 SC 423 and Hitender
Vishnu Thakur and Ors., v. State of Maharashtra and Ors., [1994) 4 SCC
B 602, relied on.

1.7. The approach of the High Court in quashing the order of
taking cognizance on the ground that it is not a reasoned order, is
clearly against the decision of the Supreme Court in Stree Atyachar
Virodhi Parishad v. Dilip Nathumal Chordia, [1989) 1 SCC 71S. The
c confession statements of the two accused were very much there before
the court. [SS D, S6 BJ

1.8. The other finding that what can be looked at is oniy the Police
Report, cannot be sustained. [S6 CJ

D Satya Narayan Musadi and Ors., v. State of Bihar, (1980) 3 SCC 1S2,
relied on.

Uma Charan v. State of MP and Anr., [1982) 1 SCR 3S3,
distinguished.

E 1.9. In the instant case, the High Court has clearly exceeded its
powers under Article 226 of the Constitution in quashing the orders of
sanction and taking of cognizance. Impugned judgment of High Court
is set aside. (S8 E, F] '

CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Criminal Appeal No. 327
F ofl 994 Etc. Etc.

From the Judgment and Order dated 13.4.94 of the Calcutta High Court
in C.O. No. 9121 (W) of 1993.

K.T.S. Tulsi, Additional Solicitor General, B.C. Ray, U.R. Lalit, S.C.
G Ghosh, Ranjan Ray and B.B. Twakley f~r the Appellants.

Ram Jethmalani, Dipankar, N.N. Goswami, N.R. Choudhary, Somnath
Mukherjee, Rajesh Kr. Gupta, Rajesh, Ashok Srivastava, P. Panneshwaran
and S.A. Syed for the Respondents.

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
H
STATE v. MOHAMMAD KHALID [MOHAN, J.] 21

MOHAN, J. Criminal Appeal No. 327of1994 is directed against the A
judgment and order dated 13th April, 1994 of the High Court of Calcutta in
C.O. No. 9121 (W) of 1993. ·

Criminal Appeal No. 328 of 1994 is directed against the judgment and
order dated 13th April, 1994 of the High Court of Calcutta in C.O. No.
8378 (W) of 1993. B
Criminal Appeal No. 329of1994 is directed against the judgment and
order dated 13th April, 1994 of the High Court of Calcutta in C.O. No.
.. ~ 8378 (W) of 1993 .

" All these cases arise out of writ petitions filed in the High Court of C
Calcutta challenging the validity of sanction and taking cognizance of the
cases against each of the respondents by the Designated Court under the
Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1987 (hereinafter
referred to as 'TADA'). A further challenge in the writ petition was also
made to the 'vires' of TADA. The orders of sanction and taking cognizance
were quashed. The challenge to the Act was not gone into since the same D
was pending at the relevant time before this Court.

To highlight the issue involved, it is enough if we advert to the facts in
Criminal Appeal No. 328of1994 since C.O. No. 8377 (W) of 1993, against
which this appeal has been preferred, is the main case. The same decision
was applied to Criminal Appeal Nos. 327 and 329 of 1994. The short facts E
are as under:

On the evening of March 16, 1993, an explosion occurred at or near
Premises No. 267, B.B. Ganguly Street, Calcutta. 69 persons died, 5 of
them died as a result of direct blast and 46 others were injured. The said
premises and some other buildings adjoining it collapsed and/or were badly F
damaged.

A compliant was lodged on March 17, 1993 regarding this incident by
Mr. B.K. Chattopadhaya, Sub-Inspector attached to Bowbazar Police
Station. This complaint was treated as First Information Report. On that
basis, case No. 84 dated 17.3.1993 was registered in the Police Station G
under Sections 120B/436/326/307/302 Indian Penal Code and Sections 3
and 5 of the Explosive Substances Act. Having regard to the gravity of the
offence, the Commissioner of Police, Calcutta passed an order that the case
shall be investigated by a team of high-ranking police officials. ln the
course of investigation witnesses were examined, various seizures were
made and confessions made by two of the accused, namely, Pannalal H
22 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (1994) SUPP. 6 S.C.R

A Jaysora and Mohammed Gulzar were recorded by a learned Metropolitan
Magistrate on April 7 and May 19, 1993 respectively. During investigations
it appeared that materials had transpired for prosecuting the accused under
Sections 3 and 4 of TADA. On 3rd of May, 1993, information to this effect
was given to the learned Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Calcutta. The
learned Magistrate made a record of this fact and observed that the
B investigating officer might proceed to investigate offences under TADA.

Upon completion of investigation, the police obtained sanction to
prosecute under Sections 3 and 5 of the Explosive Substances Act from the
State Government. Sanction under Section 20A (2) of TADA from the
Police Commissioner was also obtained. The charge-sheet was submitted
C on 14th June, 1993, well within 90 days as is spoken to under Section 167
(2) (a) (i) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (hereinafter referred to as the
'Code'). ·

The sanction to prosecute under Sections 3 and 5 of the Explosive
Substances Act and the sanction under Section 20A(2) were obtained on
D 1Ith of June, 1993. While granting. sanction under Section 20A(2) of
TADA it was mentioned that the records were placed before the sanctioning
authority for examination and perusal. It appeared that for the last 5/6 years
accused Pannalal Jaysoara had been manufacturing bombs in the 'khas
khas' room on the first floor of 267, B.B. Ganguly Street, Calcutta as and
when required by accused Mohammed Rashid Khan, first respondent in
E Criminal Appeal No. 328 of 1994. Accused Jaysoara was introduced to
other accused, namely, Mohammed Abdul Aziz, first respondent in
Criminal Appeal No. 329 of 1994 and Lala alias Parvej Khan. Death of 69
persons, serious injuries to 46 persons and complete destruction of two-
·storeyed building and partial collapse of other two and damage to five more
buildings were caused by the accused by an explosion caused by bombs and
F huge quantities of extremely dangerous nitro-glycerine based explosives
which experts have opined to be dangerous to life and property. The ·
sanctioning authority mentioned inter alia that the intention of the accused
was to strike terror on the people and/or to strike terror on a particular
section-of the people and/or to adversely affect the harmony amongst the
Hindus and the Muslims. It was also mentioned the accused had conspired
G and prepared to commit disruptive activities. In the charge-sheet all the
necessary ingredients under Sections 3(i) and 4 of TADA had been
mentioned.

The first respondent, Mohammed Rashid Khan moved a writ petition
under Article 226 of the Constitution of India making inter alia the
H following prayers: -
STATE v. MOHAMMAD KHALID [MOHAN, J.] 23

That the cognizance taken by learned Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, A
Calcutta, Respondent No. 7, in TADA Case No. l of 1993 arising out of
·,
Section 'H' (Bowbazar Police Station) Case No. 84 dated 17th March, 1993
and all subsequent proceedings thereto are illegal, void and inoperative in
law;

A writ in the nature of certiorari and/or an order of direction in the like B
nature commanding the respondents to transmit the records relating to
TADA Case pending before the said respondent to this Court;

1~
A writ in the nature of prohibition and/or an order of direction in the
like nature prohibiting the respondents and/or their agents and/or their
subordinate from proceeding any further with the TADA case; C
A writ in the nature of mandamus to respondents to forbear from
applying the provisions of TADA against him and from taking any action
or step thereunder and to release the petitioner from custody forthwith.

A declaration was also prayed for that TADA is violative of the D
Constitution and is liable to the struck down. But the High Court by its
impugned judgment held that TADA has been wrongly applied in the case
and the orders of sanction and further taking c~gnizance by the Designated
Court on 14th June, 1993 was not proper, legal and valid and the same was
quashed and set aside.

Aggrieved by the impugned judgment, the State of West Bengal has
E
preferred these criminal appeals.

Mr. K.T.S. Tulsi, learned Additional Solicitor General in attacking the
judgment argues as under:

The High Court gravely erred in quashing the order, taking cognizance, F
by entering the area which is beyond the scope of jurisdiction under Article
226 of the Constitution of India. The jurisdiction is confined to cases where
the allegations before the Designated Court ex facie cannot constitute an
offence under TADA. The High Court cannot examine the merits of the
allegations. In fact, what has been done by the High Court is a laboured G
exercise of scrutinising the material placed before the Designated Court. In
doing so, it entered into a debatable area and began the process of
appreciation of evidence admissibility of confession or pre-judgment on
trial or determine the guilt or innocence of the accused. It has made an
analysis of the materials to determine the truth or otherwise of the
allegations. It has conducted a virtual pre-trial at a pre-mature stage. On that H
24 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1994) SUPP. 6 S.C.R

A basis, it had come to a conclusion that there is no evidence in support of
these allegations. The law is, the High Court must assume each of the
allegations made in the charge-sheet to be factually correct and examine the ..
ingredients of the offence without adding or substracting anything
therefrom.

B In support of this submission, learned counsel relies on State of
Maharashtra v. Abdul Hamid Haji Mohammed, [1994] 2 SCC 664 wherein
this Court has held, the High Court under Article 226 has no jurisdiction to
enter into a debatable area whether the direct accusation made in
conjunction with the attendant circumstances, if proved to be true, is likely
to result in conviction for an offence under TADA. The moment there is a
C debatable area, in the case, it is not amenable to the writ jurisdiction.

· In State of Haryana v. Bhajan Lal, [1992] Supp (I) 335 it has been
categorically laid down that the allegations made in the FIR or the
complaint taken on their face value and accepted in its entirety constitute an
. offence. The High Court is not justified in quashing the criminal
D proceedings. In State of Bihar v. P.P. Sharma, [1992] Supp (1) 222 this
Court had ruled that writ petition should not be entertained against charge-
sheet while exercising jurisdiction. If the matter is considered on merits in
the quise of primafacie evidence, it would amount to a pre-trial. To the
same effect are the following rulings:

E I. State of Maharashtra v. Abdul Hamid, [1994] (2) SCC 664 Para 7.

2. State ofHaryana v. BhajanLal, [1992] Supp. (I) SCC 335.

3. State of Bihar v. P.P. Sharma, [1992] Supp. (I) SCC 222, para 68 at
page 269.
F
4. Maninder Kaur v. Rajinder Singh and Others, [1992] Supp. (2) SCC
25.

· 5. Radhey Shyam Khemka v. State of Bihar, [1993] 3 SCC 54.

6. State ofBihar v. Murad Ali, [1988] 4 SCC 655 at 662.
G
The next submission is, under Article 226 the High Court is not entitled
to go into the validity or otherwise of the order granting sanction for
prosecution. The order of sanction is required to be proved by evidence in
the course of trial. All objections with regard to validity or. otherwise could
H be raised there since witnesses are summoned to prove the order and they
STATE v. MOHAMMAD KHALID [MOHAN, J.J 25

being subject to cross-examination. In this case, the order of sanction, on A
the face of it, shows that the sanctioning authority had gone through all the
reports, the recorded statements of witnesses, confessions and seizure list
and the opinion of experts. The High Court has to accept these averments
on their face value. The correctness or otherwise of the statement is only
subject to proof during a trial. Therefore, the High Court is wrong in
holding, there was non-application of mind. In the case of P.P. Sharma B
(supra) it has been held, if all the facts of the case are not mentioned in the
sanction order the same does not become invalid as the prosecution can
prove these facts in the course of trial.

The finding of the High Court that the affidavit of Mr. Sujit Kumar
Sanyal is not proper because he was neither an investigating officer nor an C
informant is contrary to record. It was brought to the notice of the High
Court through the affidavit of the Commissioner of Police that the Special
Investigations Team had been set up on March 18, 1993 which was headed
by Mr. Sujit Kumar Sanyal. Unfortunately, the affidavit of Commissioner
of Police was not taken into account. Therefore, the contrary findings are D
wrong. The High Court wrongly excluded from consideration the effect of
confession of the two accused for the reasons that the confession could not
have been considered by the Designated Court as the same remained in
sealed cover. In this regard, it is submitted that charge-sheet specifically
refers to the confession recorded by the Magistrate under Section 164 of the
Code. E

The High Court has held in the impugned judgment that from the act of
preparation and storage of bombs intention to commit offences under
TADA cannot be inferred as the motive was to defend the Muslims. This
finding is shocking and is contrary to the well-established principles of self- F
defence. Then again, the preparation and keeping of bombs are illegal. It
tantamounts to terrorising the people. Therefore, this would be a terrorist
act under Section 3(1 ). If the Act itself is illegal it cannot be justified on the
plea of self-defence. The question is whether a right of private defence
exists under Indian Penal Code or any other law. Further, Section 3(3) is
also attracted. G
This Court in Morarji v. State of Gujarat, [1980] 2 SCC 218 at
paragraph 30 has dealt with the right of self-defence.

The right of self-defence commences not before a reasonable
apprehension arises in the mind of the accused. H
26 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1994] SUPP. 6 S.C.R

A The finding of the High Court that there are no materials in support of
allegation of conspiracy under Section 3 (3) proceeds on misappreciation of
the material and is contrary to the averments contained in the charge-sheet.
It is not necessary to bring home the charge of conspiracy to establish the
time and the place of conspiracy or even the actual words of
communication. It is no! necessary to prove who entered into conspiracy
B and the nature of conspiracy. The existence of conspiracy can be interfered
from the conduct of the various accused prior to and subsequent to the
conspiracy. Existence of explosive materials is enough to prove the
conspiracy when there was preparation for a large number of bombs. In
support of this submission, reliance is placed on Ajay Aggarwal v. Union of
India, [ 1993] 3 SCC 609 at page 617, dealing with the law relating to
c conspiracy. On the basis of this citation it is submitted, even if the
explosion has not taken place, the very possession of bomb would amount
to conspiracy.

Then again, the High Court has clearly gone wrong in holding that
there must be a break-down of law enforcing machinery. That would be a
D condition precedent for prosecuting the accused for offences under TADA.
This finding is contrary to the decision of this Court in Kartar Singh v.
State ofPury·ab, [1994] 3 SCC 569. In that ruling the legislative intention to
bring TADA has been clearly spelt out. In paragraph 145 of the ruling what
has been observed is the ordinary procedural law was found to be
inadequate by the Legislature and, therefore, the object of Legislature in
E bringing in TADA may not be defeated or nullified. The interpretation of
the High Court, if adopted, would clearly make the TADA unworkable.
Sections 3 and 4 of TADA are intended for the whole of India. It has
nothing to do with the break-down of law enforcing machinery.

The High Court had gone on a totally incorrect premises when it
F quashed the order taking cognizance on the ground that it is not a reasoned
order. It is submitted that no reasons need be stated. Therefore, this
approach of the High Court is clearly contrary to the following rulings of
this Court:
(1) Stree Atyachar Virodhi Parishad v. Dilip Nathumal Chordia,
"' ...
G [1989} 1 sec 715 para 14.
(2) R.S. Nayakv. A.R. Antu/ay, [1966] 2 SCC 716 at para 43.

(3) State ofBihar v. Ramesh Singh, [1977] 4 SCC 39 at para 4.

(4) Niranjan Singh Karam Singh v. Jitendra Bhimraj Bijjaya, [1990] 4
H sec 76 at para 7.
STATE v. MOHAMMAD KHALID [MOHAN, J.] 27

Equally, the High Court erred in holding that the Court taking A
cognizance can only look at police report and nothing else. This is clearly
contrary to the ruling of this Court in Satya Narain Musodi v. State of
Bihar, [1980) 3 SCC 152 para 9 and IO. The report under Section l 73(2) is
accompanied by all the document~ and statements. All of them can be
looked into. In support of the above submissions, it is urged that the
judgment of the High Court is perverse and is liable to be set aside. B
Mr. U.R. Lalit, learned senior counsel appearing for the appellants
submits that a charge-sheet in criminal law is a mere narration. It is a
) manifestation of evidence collected. No charge-sheet is ever construed in a
restricted way, as has been done by the High Court. In this case the High
Court has grievously erred. C
When a police report is filed cognizance is almost automatic. In fact, in
A.C. Aggarwal, Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Delhi v. Master Ram Kali, AIR
(1968) SC 1 at page 5 this Court held when Section 190(l)(b) of the Code
uses the words "may take cognizance" it means, must take cognizance and
that it has no discretion in the matter. In law, no reasons need be given for D
taking cognizance under Section 193.

Mr. Ram Jethmalani, learned senior counsel, appearing on behalf of the
respondents submits that a report of the police constitutes the facts found as
a result of investigation. Under Section 173 of the Code the Court is called
upon to take action. The report in the accompanying documents though E
complementary must be held distinctive. In law, the report should contain
the minimum. Should the report fail to bring out the ingredients of an
offence the same cannot be supplemented by other materials. Thus, the
submission is, the report is relevant for the issue of process.

The impugned order is in two parts : F

l. Taking cognizance; and

2. issuing a process.

The theory of curable irregularity cannot be applied except in G
revisional or appellate stage. Section 170 (5) makes a clear distinction
between the report and documents along with the report. Section 190(l)(b)
states : "such facts constitute an offence." Section 190 of the Code is
controlled by Section 20(A)(l) and (2) of TADA. Under such
circumstances, the Court will have to examine whether the bar has been
removed. In support of this submission, reliance is placed on Gokulchand H
28 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1994] SUPP. 6 S.C.R

A Dwarkadas Morarka v. The King, AIR (1948) PC 82 at page 83. Though
that case arose under Defence of India Rules, the ratio squarely applies.

A cognizance which is barred cannot be overcome by a sanction. The
Court must look at the validity of sanction. In this case, the sanction was
never produced before the Court. On the contrary, the Court took
B cognizance automatically. The specific case of these respondents before the
High Court was, there was no such sanction. The burden that the sanction
was granted in relation to the facts constituting the offence has not been
discharged. While taking cognizance perusal of sanction is not mentioned.
This order is conclusive.

C The Commissioner of Police in his affidavit does not say that he
handed it over to the Designated Court and that the Court returned to the
Police as there was no infrastructure for safe custody. On the basis of the
affidavit it is submitted that no sanction was made. In criminal justice the
quantum of evidence at the time of issuing the process must be the same as
the time of taking cognizance. Relying on Vadila/ Panchal v. Dattatraya
D Dulaji Ghadigaonkar, AIR (1960) SC 1113 it is urged that under Section
202 of the Code a plea of self-defence could be raised and the decision
invited at the time of issuing process.

As regards the exercise of inherent jurisdiction in quashing under
Section 482 of the Code it could be exercised in three cases:
E
(i) When there is a legal bar to prosecution.

(ii) The FIR and the complaint do not make out the offence.

(iii) When there is no legal evidence.
F The High Court can interfere during investigation

(i) not under the inherent powers but under the Constitution of India;

(ii) after cognizance before charges are framed. ..-
G This can be done both under the inherent powers and Article 226 of the
Constitution of India:

(a) on account of the existence of legal bar or where there is no
material for issuing process or action;

H (b) there is not enough/no legal evidence;
STATE v. MOHAMMAD KHALID [MOHAN, J.] 29

(c) after charges are framed when there is legal evidence to sustain the A
charges.

It is incorrect to contend that the High Court has appreciated the
evidence. In order to detennine whether the bar has been removed, it can
examine the same. As a matter of fact, this Court in State ofMaharashtra v.
Abdul Hamid Haji Mohammed, [1994] 2 SCC 664 at page 669 has held B
mens rea is necessary in deciding the abatement. Therefore, primarily the
Court has to decide whether an order of sanction exists or not.

The sanction in this case is void for the following reasons:

(a) The order of sanction states that the Commissioner of Police C
"accords sanction for prosecution." Legally speaking, it should be for
proceeding under TADA and not for prosecution. It has been so laid down
in Ram Kumar v. State ofHaryana, [1987] 2 SCC 476 at 478.

(b) There is non-application of mind. In Gokulchand Dwarkadas
Morarka (supra) it is held that "there must be application of mind" which D
ratio has been accepted by this Court in Major Som Nath v. Union of India,
AIR (1971) SC 1910.

Sections 3 and 4 of TADA contemplate various kinds of offences.
Section 3 ( 1) speaks of different types of offences. Therefore, there must be
application of mind as to what offences are alleged. E
(c) The sanction order says "and/or". This is bad in law. It has been so
laid down in Major Som Nath (supra). The sanctioning authority must
confonn to the same standard as the court and decide conspiracy ag~inst
each accused. The leading case on this aspect is Alvin Krulewitch v. United
States of America, 93 Law. Ed. 790 at 795. Relying on this ruling it is F

- submitted the Court must insist on an admissible evidence against each
· accused. To the same effect is Walli Mohammed v. The King, AIR (1949)
PC 103 at 104.

If the bombs are intended for self-defence there is no mens rea.
Consequently, there is no offence under TADA. Support is derived for this G
proposition from Niranjan Singh Karam Singh v. Jitendra Bhimraj Bijjaya,
[1990] 4 sec 76 at pages 87-88. Where preparations are made to meet a
communal frenzy, the respondents cannot be prosecuted under TADA.

Upholding the validity of the TADA this Court in Kartar Singh v. State
of Punjab, JT (1994) 2 SC 423 held that the Act falls under Entry I of List H
30 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (1994] SUPP. 6 S.C.R

A I, i.e., Defence of India. That being so, the offences under Sections 3 and 4
must relate to sovereignty and integrity of India. In Hitendra Vishnu Thakur
(supra) this Court in dealing with the definition of "terrorism" held: unless
the Act complained of falls strictly within the letter and spirit of Section
3(1) of TADA and is committed with'-'the inte"ntion as envisaged by the
Section the accused caimot be tried and convicted. Hence, it is submitted
B the order of sanction must be examined'in tliis'liight'.1 The Designated Court
must record the motive as postulated under Section 3 (1). If, therefore,
dominant intention is self-defence, the matter will have to be viewed only
from that angle. In Sanjay Dutt v. The State Through C.B.l, Bombay,
(1994) 3 Scale 1004 this Court held that the accused could prove in relation
to offences which do not require mens rea, an innocent possession will not
c bring the offence under Section 5. Therefore, it is submitted in cases where
mens rea is required like Sections 3 and 4, it must relate to sovereignty and
integrity of India. Hence, the Court will have to determine the dominant
intention as laid down in Mathuri and others v. State of Punjab, [1964] 5
SCR 916. In this case, the dominant intention is self-defence. Therefore, it
will not constitute an offence under TADA. In the charge-sheet/police
D report, the ingredients of neither Sections 3 nor 4 are mentioned. The
documents, if taken into consideration, refer' to two confessions. They
would only point to self-defence.
Mr. Dipankar Ghosh, learned senior counsel, appearing on behalf of
Rashid Khan, first respondent, in Criminal Appeal No. 328 of 1994,
E adopting the argument of Mr. Ram Jethmalani would urge that there is no
valid sanction under Section 3 (1) in this case. ·

It is the duty of the sanctioning a~thority to apply its mind. In Indu
Bhusan Chatterjee v. The State, AIR (1965) Calcutta 430 it has been so laid
down. The order according sanction must give reasons. The necessity for
F giving reasons has been laid down in Uma Charan v. State of Madhya
Pradesh and Anr., [1982] 1 SCR 353 at 358 and again in Siemens Engg. v.
Union of India, AIR (1976) SC 1785 at page 1789. With regard to motive
_and intention, the learned counsel cites Black's Law Dictionary.
Therefore, in this case, the intention was not to terrorise. On the
contrary, it is only by way of self-defence. Therefore, no exception could
G be taken to the impugned judgment.
Having regard to the arguments the following points arise for our
determination:
1. The scope of the jurisdiction of the High Court under Article 226 to
H interfere with: ·
STATE v. MOHAMMAD KHALID [MOHAN, J.] 31

(a) according sanction; and A
(b) taking cognizance.

2. Whether the order of sanction is bad in law for:

(a) non-application of mind;
B
(b) that it does not give reasons;

(c) that there is no mention that there is a break-down of law
enforcement machinery;

(d) it does not speak of conspiracy. c
Section 20A of TADA with regard to taking cognizance of offence
postulates under sub-section (2), that no court can take cognizance of any
offence under this Act without the previous sanction of the Inspector-
General of Police, or as the case may be, the Commissioner of Police.
D
Such a provision relating to sanction is not new under criminal
jurispurdence. Section 132 of the Code provides for sanction. This Section
is a bar to the prosecution of Police Officers under Sections 129, 130 or
131. The object is to protect responsible public servants against the
institution of possible vexatious and ma/a fide criminal proceedings for
offences alleged to be committed by them while they are acting or E
purported to act as such in the discharge of their official duty.

Section 197 contains a similar sanction. The object of the Section is to
provide for two things, namely,

(1) to protect government servants against institution of vexatious F
proceedings, and

(2) to secure the well-considered opinion of a superior authority before
a prosecution is lodged against them.

Similar provisions are found in other enactments, for example, G
Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947.

Similarly, when Section 20A(2) of TADA makes sanction necessary
for taking cognizance - is only to prevent abuse of power.by authorities
concerned. It requires to be noted that this provision of Section 20A came
to be inserted by Act 43of1993. Then, the question is as to the meaning of H
32 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1994] SUPP. 6 S.C.R >

A taking cognizance. Section 190 of the Code talks of cognizance of offences
by Magistrates. This expression has not been defined in the Code. In its
broad and literal sense, it means taking notice of an offence. This would
..' ..
~

include the intention of initiating judicial proceedings against the offender
in respect of that offence or taking steps to see whether there is any basis
for initiating judicial proceedings or for other purposes. The word
B "cognizance" indicates the point when a Magistrate or a Judge first takes
judicial notice of an offence. It is entirely a different thing from initiation of ·
proceedings; rather it is the condition precedent to the initiation of
proceedings by the Magistrate or the Judge. Cognizance is taken of cases
and not of persons.

C Cognizance is defined in Wharton's Law Lexicon 14th Edition at page
209. It reads:

"Cognizance (Judicial), knowledge upon which a judge is
bound to act without having it proved in evidence; as the
public statutes of the realm, the ancient history of the realm,
D the order and course of proceedings in Parliament, the
privileges of the House of Commons, the existence of war
with a foreign state, the several seals of the King, the
Supreme Court and its jurisdiction, and many other things. A
judge is not bound to take cognizance of current events,
however notorious, nor of the law of other countries."
E
It has, thus, reference to the hearing and determination of the case in
connection with an offence. By the impugned judgment of the High Court
has quashed the orders · of sanction and the Designated Court taking
cognizance in the matter.

F Before we go into the merits it is desirable to determine the limitations
of power of the High Court. under Article 226 in .this Court. In the State of
Mahrashtra v. Abdul Hamid Haji Mohammed, [1994] 2 SCC 664 after
holding that the High Court in writ petition under Article 226 can interfere
only in extreme cases where charges ex facie do not constitute offence
under TADA it was held in paragraph 7 at pages 669-70 as under:
G
"The first question is : Whether the High Court was
empowered in the present case to invoke its jurisdiction
under Article 226 of the Constitution to examine the
correctness of the view taken by the Designated Court and to
· quash the prosecution of the respondent under the TADA
H Act? Shri Jethmalani contended, placing reliance on the
STATE v. MOHAMMAD KHALID [MOHAN, J.] 33

decisions in R.P. Kapur v. State of Punjab, (1960] 3 SCR A
388 and State ofHaryana v. Bhajan Lal, (1992] Supp. I SCC
335 that in the facts of this case, the High Court had such a
jurisdiction since there is no accusation against the
respondent in the charge-sheet filed in the Designated Court
which, if believed, must result in his conviction for an
offence punishable under TADA Act. We are not impressed B
by this argument of Shri Jethmalani. It is no doubt true that in
an extreme case if the only accusation against the respondent
prosecuted in the Designated Court in accordance with the
provisions of TADA Act is such that ex facie it cannot
constitute an offence punishable under TADA Act, then the
High Court may be justified in invoking the power under C
Article 226 of the Constitution on the ground that the
detention of the accused is not under the provisions of TADA
Act. We may hasten to add that this can happen only in
extreme cases which would be rare and that power of the
High Court is not exercisable in cases like the present where
it may be debatable whether the direct accusation made in D
conjunction with the attendant circumstanqes, ifproved to be
true, is likely to result in conviction for an offence under
TADA Act. The moment there is a debatable area in the case,
it is not amenable to the writ jurisdiction of the High Court
1- under Article 226 of the Constitution and the gamut of the
procedure prescribed under TADA Act must be followed, E
namely, raising the objection before the Designated Court
and, if necessary, challenging the order of the Designated
Court by appeal in the Supreme Court as provided in Section
19 of TADA Act. In view of the express provision of appeal
to the Supreme Court against any judgment, sentence or F
order, not being an interlocutory order of a Designated Court,
there is no occasion for the High Court to examine merits of
the order made by the Designated Court that the Act applies.
We have no doubt that in the present case wherein the High
Court had to perform the laboured exercise of scrutinising
the material containing the accusation made against the G
respondent and the merits of the findings recorded by the
Designated C:ourt holding that the provisions of TADA Act
were attracted, there was sufficient indication that the writ
jurisdiction of the High Court under Article 226 of the
Constitution was not available. The ratio of the decisions of
this Court in R.P. Kapur and Bhajan Lal on which reliance is H
34 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1994] SUPP. 6 S.C.R

A placed by Shri Jethrnalani, has no application to the facts of
the present case. There was thus no justification for the High
Court in the present case to exercise its jurisdiction under
Article 226 of the Constitution for examining the merits of
the controversy much ·1ess for quashing the prosecution of
respondent Abdul Hamid in the Designated Court for
B offences punishable under TADA Act."

(emphasis supplied)

From the above quotation it is clear if there is a debatable area it is not
amenable to writ jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India
C and the gamut of the procedure prescribed under TADA must be followed
including challenging the order of the Designated Court under Section f9.
It is also dear that the High Court cannot perform a laboured exercise of
scrutinising the materials.

In State ofHaryana and Others v. Bhajan Lal and Others, [1992] Supp
D I sec 335 where a writ petition was filed to quash the first information
report and also of the writ of prohibition restraining the police authority
from proceeding further into the investigation, the High Court concluded
that the allegations do not constitute a cognizable offence. It further held
that the power of quashing a criminal proceeding should be exercised
sparingly and with circumspection and, that too, in the rarest of rare cases;
E that the Court will not be justified in embarking upon an inquiry as to the
reliability or genuineness or otherwise of the allegations made in the first
information report or the complaint. It was further held where the
allegations made in the first information report or the complaint even if
they are taken at their face value and accepted in the entirety do not prima
facie constitute any offence or make out a case against the accused, then
F alone the proceeding could be quashed.

in State of Bihar and Another v. P.P. Sharma and Another, [1992]
Supp (I) 222 at pages 224-225 it is held:

"At a stage when the police report under Section 173 Cr.P.C.
G has been forwarded to the Magistrate after completion of the
investigation and the material collected by the Investigating
Officer is under the gaze of judicial scrutiny, the High Court
would do well to discipline itself not to undertake quashing
proceedings in exercise of its inherent jurisdiction. In this
case the High Court fell into grave error in appreciating the
H documents and affidavits produced before it by tr~ting them
STATE v. MOHAMMAD KHALID [MOHAN, J.] 35

as evidence, delving into the disputed questions of fact in its A
jurisdiction under Article 226/227 and pronouncing the
respondents to be innocent and quashing the , criminal
proceedings by converting itself into a trial court. This was
not at all a case where High Court should have interfered in
the exercise of its inherent jurisdiction. The appreciation of
evidence is the function of the criminal courts the Special B
Judge was seized of the matter. He had heard the argument
on the question of cognisance and had reserved the orders.
The High Court did not even permit the Special Judge to
pronounce the orders. The High Court, under the
circumstances, could not have assumed jurisdiction and put
an end to the process of investigation and trial provided C
under the law .

..... Entertaining the writ petitions against charge-sheet and
considering the matter on merit on the guise of prima facie
evidence to stand an accused for trial amounts to pre-trial of
a criminal trial under Articles 226 or 227 even before the D
competent Magistrate or the Sessions Court takes cognizance
of the offence. The charge-sheet and the evidence placed in
support thereof form the base to take or refuse to take
cognizance by the competent court. It is not the case that no
offence had been made out in the charge-sheets and the first
information report. Grossest error of a criminal case in E
exercising its extraordinary jurisdiction under Article
226 ..... "

In Maninder Kaur v. Rajinder Singh and Others, (1992) Supp 2 SCC
25 at page 26 this Court observed thus:
F
" ....... The matter is plain and simple as on the state of
complainant and her two witnesses, the learned Magistrate
came to the opinion that there was sufficient ground for
proceeding with the complaint and he issued process against
the accused-respondents. Now at this stage to judge the
sufficiently or 6therwise of the ground for proceeding was G
beyond the power of the High Court so as to quash the
proceedings under Section 482, Cr.P.C. The value to be
attached to the statement made by the appellant under Section
164, Cr.P.C was to be examined at the enquiry at the pre-
1 charge stage and possibly at the trial, if charge was to be
framed .... " H
36 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1994] SUPP. 6 S.C.R

A In Radhey Shyam Khemka and Another v. State of Bihar., [1993] 3
sec 54 at pages 59-60 was held thus:
"The complaint made by the Deputy Secretary to the
Government of India to the CBI mentions different
circumstances to show that the appellants did not intend to
B carry on any business. In spite of the rejection of the
application by the Stock Exchange, Calcutta they retained the
share moneys of the applicants with dishonest intention.
Those allegations were investigated by the CBI and
ultimately charge-sheet has been submitted. On basis of that
charge-sheet cognizance has been taken. In such a situation
c the quashing of the prosecution pending against the
appellants only on the ground that it was open to the
applicants for shares to take recourse to the provisions of the
Companies Act, cannot be accepted. It is a futile attempt on
the part of the appellants, to close the chapter before it has
unfolded itself. It will be for the trial Court to examine
D whether on the materials produced on behalf of the
prosecution it is established that the appellants had issued the
prospectus inviting applications in respect of shares of the
Company aforesaid with a dishonest intention, or having
received the moneys from the applicants they had dishonestly
retained or misappropriated the same. That exercise cannot
E be performed either by the High Court or by this Court. If
accepting the allegations made and charges levelled on their
face value, the Court had come to conclusion that no offence
under the Penal Code was disclosed the matter would have
been different. This Court has repeatedly pointed out that the
High Court should not, while exercising power under Section
F 482 of the code, usurp the jurisdiction of the trial Court. The
power under Section 482 of the Code has been vested in the
High Court to quash a prosecution which amounts to abuse of
the process of the Court. But that power cannot be exercised ·
by the High Court to hold a parallel trial, only on basis of the
statements and documents collected during investigation or
G inquiry, for purpose of expressing an opinion whether the
accused concerned is likely to be punished if the trial is
allowed to proceed."

In State of Bihar v. Murad Ali Khan and Others, [1988] 4 SCC 655 at
pages 662-663 this Court held:
H
STATE v. MOHAMMAD KHALID [MOHAN, J.] 37

"It is trite that jurisdiction under Section 482 CrPC, which A
saves the inherent powe:- of the High Court, to make such
orders as may be necessary to prevent abuse of the process of
any court or otherwise to secure the ends of justice, has to be
exercised sparingly and with circumspection. In exercising
that jurisdiction the High Court should not embark upon an
enquiry whether the allegations in the complaint are like~y to B
be established by evidence or not. That is the function of the
trial Magistrate when the evidence comes before him.
Though it is neither possible nor advisable to lay down any
inflexible rules to regulate that jurisdiction, one thing,
' however, appears clear and it is that when the High Court is
called upon to exercise this jurisdiction to quash a C
proceeding at the stage of the Magistrate taking cognizance
of an offence the High Court is guided by the allegations,
whether those allegations, set out in the complaint or the
charge-sheet, do not in law constitute or spell out any offence
and that resort to criminal proceedings would, in the
circumstances, amount to an abuse ofthe process ofthe court D
or not.

(Emphasis supplied)

In Municipal Corporation of Delhi v. R.K. Rohtagi, (1983] I SCC 1 at

' page 6 it is reiterated: E
It is, therefore, manifestly clear that proceedings against an accused in
the initial stages can be quashed only if on the face of the complaint or the
papers accompanying the same, no offence is constituted. In other words,
the test is that taking the allegations and the complaint as they are, without
adding or subtracting anything, if no offence is made out then the High F
Court will be justified in quashing the proceedings in exercise of its powers
under Section 482 of the present Code. (Emphasis supplied)

In Municipal Corporation of Delhi v. P.D. Jhunjunwala, [1983] 1 SCC
9 at page 10 it was further made clear:
G
As to what would be the evidence against the respondents is not a
matter to be considered at this stage and would have to be proved at the
trial. We have already held that for the purpose of quashing the proceedings
only the allegations set forth in the complaint have to be seen and nothing
further."
H
38 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1994] SUPP. 6 S.C.R
-
A '
In this legal background we will analyse the facts as contained in the
charge-sheet:

1. Accused Md. Rashid Khan and his relatives reside at 43, B.B.
Ganguly Street, Calcutta-12. He used to maintain a group of anti-socials.
Local people were scared of hin1 and his men. No one dared to object or
B raise voice against them as all knew the consequences.

2. The said Md. Rashid Khan had his office in Premises No. 266, B.B.
Ganguly Street.

3. Accused Rashid Khan, a Satta Bookie, used to run his satta business
C inside "Satta Galli" at Premises Nos. 266 and 267, B.B. Ganguly Street.

4. The investigation revealed that since last 5/6 years accused No. 3
Pannalal Jaysoara had been manufacturing bombs on the 1st floor of 267,
B.B. Ganguly Street as and when required by Accused No. I Md. Rashid
Khan, the Satta Bookie. Kalloo @ Sarafraz Khan, a henchman of Accused
No. 1 picked up Accused No. 3 Pannalal Jaysoara first for preparing bombs
D
for their group and through Accused Kalloo @ Sarafraz @ Khan. Accused
No. 3 Pannalal Jaysoara was introduced with Accused No. l Md. Rashid
Khan, Accused No. 2 Abdul Aziz, Accused No. 7 Lala@ Parwez Khan,
Accused Zakrin and Accused No. 8/Parvez Imtiaz Khan. It also transpired
that Accused Pannalal used to take cash Rs. 100/- regularly in every week
E either from Accused Rashid Khan or from Accused Kalloo @ Sarafraz
Khan. Accused No. 3 Pannalal used to receive the said money from the
office of Accused Rashid Khan at 266, B.B. Ganguly Street.

This bomb manufacturing matter was supervised mainly by Accused
Kalloo and Accused Lala (absconding) and sometimes by Accused lmtiaz
F Khan {absconding). Accused Md. Rashid Khan, Abdul Aziz and Zakrin
Khan used to visit the first floor of 267, B.B. Ganguly Street, also for the
same purpose.

After the communal riot in recent past between Hindus and Muslims in
Bombay, Accused No. 1 Md. Rashid Khan became very worried for the
G Muslims because, according to him, a large number of Muslims died at
Bombay and the Local Government did nothing for their community and he
apprehended that such sort of communal riot might take place in Calcutta
and Government may not stand by the side of Muslims like Bombay as a
result many Muslims would die. As such Aceused Md. Rashid Khan
· hatched a conspiracy with his henchmen viz. Accused Kalloo, Lala;'Zakrin,
H Khalid, Murtaza, Aziz, Guizar etc. to procure huge quantity a/explosive
STATE v. MOHAMMAD KHALID (MOHAN, J.] 39

\ . materials for preparing large number of bombs with a view to kill the A
Hindus in Calcutta by using those bombs through Muslim brothers.
(Emphasis supplied)

5. Pursuant to that conspiracy Accused No. 5 was entrusted with the
task of procuring explosive materials. For this, Accused No. I, Rashid
Khan, paid money to Accused No. 5 Md. Khalid through Accused Kalloo. B
Within a few days, Accused No. 5 Khalid, with the help of Accused Hassu
procured huge quantities of explosive materials and brought those to the
first floor of267, B.B. Ganguly Street, in two drums and two bags and kept
the same there with the help of Accused Murtaza, Guizar, Tenia and Ukil.
Again on 16.3.93 Accused Md. Khalid and Accused Hassu brought
explosive materials in two bags and with Accused Guizar and Mustafa @ C
Murtuja came near the Sattagali at about 20/20.30 hrs. There with the help
of Accused Tenia, Ukil and Khurshid brought those bags inside the
Khaskhas Godown on 1st floor of 267, B.B. Ganguly Street through Satta
Gali. At that time there were some other persons present in "Satta Gali"
who saw this. Thereafter Accused Murtaza, Khalid and Hassu & Khurshid
kept two drums and four bags together and place-d a plastic sheet. Accused D
Khalid and Hassu opened those bags and brought out explosive materials
and some small tin containers. Then Accused Tenia, Ukil, Hassu and
Khurshid started mixing the explosive materials while Accused Guizar,
Khalid and Murtaja started straining the materials. Accused Guizar tried to
open the lid of a drum but he was asked by Accused Khalid and Accused E
Murtaza not to do so. As such he did not open the lid of the drum. Soon
after Accused Nisar Guizar, Khalid and Murtaza were straining those
explosive materials. Accused Lala, Kalloo and lmtiaz came inside the 1st
floor of 267, B.B. Ganguly Street and supervised this manufacturing
process, owner of Khaskhas godown, E.M. Naushad and his men were
present inside the 1st floor of the said building i.e. inside his Godown cum F
residential place at that time. At about 21.00/21.30 hours of that night, an
electrician of that locality who used to sleep in the night inside the
Khaskhas Godown regularly also came there but being rebuked by Accused
Murtaza he left the Khaskhas Godown. Some other people who used to stay
,+ during night were also present inside the Khaskhas Godown on that night.
G
6. Thereafter at intervals Accused Guizar and Accused Khalid left that
house for their destinations. All the street lights and lights inside Satta Gali
and lights on the 1st floor of 267, B.B. Ganguly Street and its surrounding
areas were burning. A few persons were present inside Satta Gali then. On
the same morning, i.e., 16.3.93, Accused Kalloo with Accused lmtiaz went
to the place of Accused Pannalal Jaysoara and asked him to come to their H
40 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1994] SUPP. 6 S.C.R

A place at Bowbazar Street for preparing bombs. At about 22.00/22.30 hours,
on that day, Accused Pannalal -came to the office of Accused Md. Rashid
Khan at 266, B.B. Ganguly Street. There he met Accused Aziz, Rashid,
Lala and Zakrin who took him to the 'Khaskhas Godown cum Factory'
located on the first floor of 267, B.B. Ganguly Street through Satta Gali
where Accused Murtaza, Tenia, Nisar, Ukil, Hassu and Khurshid were
B found preparing bombs -and there was huge quantity of the mixture of
explosive materials over a plastic sheet on the 1st floor of267, B.B Ganguly
Street besides number of empty small tin containers.

7. At about 23.00/23.30 hours on 16.3.93. Accused Pannalal, after
preparing a few bombs came down and went out, being followed by a
C witness. Accused Zakrin was found standing near the Satta Gali and
Accused Md. Rashid Khan was then talking with two persons of Haberly
Lane, standing on the pavement in front of 266, B.B. Ganguly Street. At
that time, Accused Pannalal went to Accused Rashid Khan and told him
that it would take long time, even upto the next day evening, to prepare
bombs - with all such huge quantity of explosive materials and asked
D Accused Rashid Khan as to the necessity of preparing such large number of
bombs. Accused Rashid Khan answered him in presence of those two
persons as to why large number of bombs were necessary referring to
recent past Bombay Riot.

8. Then Accused No. 1 Md. Rashid Khan asked Accused No. 3,
E Pannalal, to start the work of preparation of bombs and thereafter went
towards his hotel 'Shahi Darbar'. After departure of Accused Rashid Khan
Accused No. 3 Pannalal also left that place for his residence.

9. At about 23.59 hours on 16.3.93 the explosion took place resulting
in death of 69 persons and 46 persons injured. Due to this explosion the
F houses were either collapsed or damaged.

The facts also disclose that confessions were made by Accused 3,
Pannalal and Accused 6, Md. Guizar under Section 164 of the Code before
the Magistrate.

G Now, we come to the order granting sanction. The order of sanction by
the Commissioner of Police is dated 11.6.1993. It inter alia says:

"WHEREAS, it appears from all the reports, recorded
statements of witnesses, confessional statement of accused
persons viz. Panna/a/ Jaysoara and Md Guizar, the seizure
H lists, opinion of experts, order no. 4509-P dated I 1.6.93 from
STATE v. MOHAMMAD KHALID [MOHAN, J.] 41

the Joint Secretary to the Government of West Bengal case A
diary etc. in connection with Bowbazar P.S. C/No. 84 dated
17.3.93 u/s l 20B/436/302/307/326 J.P.C. u/s 3 & 5 E.S. Act,
u/s 3 and TADA Act, placed before me, that on 16.3.93 at
about 23.59 hours there was an explosion due to blast of
bombs and explosive materials which caused destruction of
premises No. 267, B.B. Ganguly Street, Calcutta-12 and B
damage to premises No. 266, 268-A, 43/3, 42/1, B.B.
Ganguly Street, 1, Haberly Lane, 37, Robert Street, Calcutta -
12 etc. and death of 69 persons and injuries to large number
of people." (Emphasis supplied)

Thereafter, it proceeds to say that the accused: c
" ......with intent to strike terror in the people and/or to strike
terror on a particular section of the people and/or to alienate
a particular section of people to adversely affect the harmony
amongst the Hindus and Muslims were engaged in preparing
and/or causing to be prepared, bombs, with explosive D
substances and highly explosive materials by procuring them,
which acts were likely to cause death or injuries to persons
and loss of or damaged to and/or destruction of properties
and thereby committed terrorist acts.

(Emphasis supplied) E

And WHEREAS it appears, from the aforesaid records and
documents, that the aforesaid persons conspired and were
preparing to commit disruptive activities.

And WHEREAS, it appears after due consideration of all the F
records, documents etc. mentioned earlier, that the aforesaid
persons by their acts have committed offences punishable
under Sections 3 and 4 of the Terrorist and Disruptive
Activities (Prevention) Act, 1993.

(Emphasis supplied) G

Now, therefore, on careful consideration of all the facts,
materials and circumstances of the case and in exercise of the
powers conferred upon me by section 20A(2) of the Terrorist
and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1993, I, Sri
Tushar Kanti Talukdar, Commissioner of Police, Calcutta, do H
42 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (1994] SUPP. 6 S.C.R

A hereby accord sanction for prosecution under Sections 3 and
4 of the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act,
1993 of the following persons viz., (1) Md. Rashid Khan, son
of Late Ramjan Khan, of 43, B.B. Ganguly Street, Calcutta-
12."

B On this, the Designated Court passed the following order on
14.6.63:

"Received charge-sheet against the accused (I) Md. Rashid
Khan, (2) Abdul Aziz C.K., (3) Pannalal Jaysoara, (4) Md.
Mustafa@Murtaza, (5) Md. Khalid, (6) Md. Guizar, (7) Md.
c Parvez Khan @ Parvez @ Lal and (8) Imtiaz Khan under
Sections 1208/436/302/307/326 l.P.C., under sections 3 and
5 E.S. Act and under Sections 3 and 4 TADA Act Ltd. P.P.
Sri Sisir Ghosh prays for taking cognizance. Heard. Perused
the Police papers. Cognizance taken. Accused Nos. 7 and 8
are reportedly absconding. (Emphasis supplied)
D
Issue warrant of arrest against the accused Parvez Khan @
Md. Parvez Khan @ Parvez @ Lala and accused Imtiaz
Khan. Fix 10.7.93 for E.R. to date."

The High Court in the impugned judgment criticises the order of
E sanction. It inter alia holds:

"It has been specifically alleged that no sanction order was
given by the Commissioner of Police - respondent No. 3
before the Designated Court took cognizance on 14th June,
1993. The respondent No. 3 has not affirmed an affidavit
F denying the said allegations made by the petitioner. The said
affidavit affirmed by S.K. Sanyal also does not disclose that
he was authorised to affirm the affidavit on behaif of the
Commissioner of Police - respondent No. 3.

There is, therefore, no specific denial by the Commissioner
of Police of the averment in the writ petition that no sanction
G
had been granted by him prior to the Designated Court taking
cognizance.

It is significant that although it is alleged in the said affidavit
of S.K. Sanyal that he produced the case diary including the
sanction order to the Designated Court and the Designated
H
STATE v. MOHAMMAD KHALID (MOHAN, J.) 43

Court returned the same to him for making copies as the A
Court did not have the necessary infrastructure, the same is
not recorded in the proceeding before the Designa~ed Court
nor there is any mention in the sanction order filed in Court
and subsequently returned as appears from the record of the
Designated Court."
B
It further held:

" ...... Even assuming that the original had been returned to the
prosecution for making copies, the said fact should have also
been recorded in the Court's record. In the absence of such
,) recording of fact question may arise whether the said C
sanction order was placed before the designated court."

" ......... .it will be noticed that the Police Report and this last
page (which is page no. 14) is much lighter than the type
impression in the proceeding I 3 pages of the said report.
(Emphasis supplied) D
" ....... .In my view this aspect of the matter is not so vital so as
to effect the validity of the sanction order or for the purpose
of taking cognizance and the Writ Court should not enter. into
the aforesaid controversy."
E
" ....... .It has, therefore, been suggested that the sanction is in
respect of non-existent offences and that it is not a sanction in
respect of any offence under the TADA Act of 1987 as
required by Section 20A(2) of the Act and that it is not a
sanction in respect of offences under Sections 3 and 4 of the
TADA Act of which cognizance was taken by the designated F
Court on June 14, 1993. The sanction in the aforesaid manner
according to the learned Advocate for the petitioner shows
complete non-application of mind by the Commissioner of
Police while making that order and according to him the
order of sanction is accordingly, bad."
G
It further proceeds to hold that the order of sanction suffers
from the following infirmities."

(l) No intention to kill Hindus has been mentioned.

(2) Facts for taking action under Section 4 have not been set out. H
44 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (1994] SUPP. 6 S.C.R

A (3) Threat to sovereignty and integrity has not been stated.

(4) Confession cannot be taken into account for inferring the intention.

(5) There is no whisper of an allegation of conspiracy.

B (6) There is no mention that ordinary machinery has broken down.
After holding so, the order of the Designated Court dated 14.6.93 is
quashed on the following grounds:

(1) Order taking cognizance does not show that the sanction to
prosecute was considered. Reasons for taking cognizance have not been
c recorded.

(2) The Order does not show that confessions were perused.

(3) The Court while taking cognizance cannot refer to any material
other than police report.
D
(4) Intention to commit offence under' TADA cannot be inferred as the
motive was to defend Muslims.

The High Court, after quashing the order of sanction and taking
cognizance ordered as follows:
E
"This order, however, will not prevent the rspondent-State to
take steps for making any fresh application for sanction
before the Commissioner of Police on the basis of fresh
materials, ifthere be any, and accordingly to apply for takll1g
F of cognizance before the Designated Court on the basis 'of
such fresh materials if the same is permissible and if the
respondent is so advised in accordance with law." .

From the above analysis of the judgment, it is clear what actually the
High Court has done is to appreciate the evidence at the pre-trial stage.
G
The affidavit of Mr. Tushar Kanti Talukdar, Commissioner of Police,
Calcutta, which came to be filed pursuant to the permission granted by the
Court, categorically states that sanction was accorded by him. The
Commissioner had gone through the voluminous records and came to the
conclusion on his own. It is further stated by him as under:
H
STATE v. MOHAMMAD KHALID [MOHAN, J.] 45

"I state that I had examined in particular the statements of A
witnesses indicating that the accused persons alongwith
others conspired to create disharmony between the two major
communities and over a period had systematically been
collecting huge quantities of explosive substances to use
them whenever needed. In fact, on 16th March, 1993 one
instalment of two big bags of explosives had arrived at the B
place and were kept in the khas khas room of 267, B.B.
Ganguly Street. These two bags were in addition to two big
bags and two drums that had arrived earlier and stored in the
same room. The statements of witnesses and confessional
statements of two accused clearly indicate that the accused
had no faith in the established government. The accused men C
had openly declared that the Government had done nothing
to protect the Muslims against the Hindus in Bombay riots
and in Calcutta the Government will also do nothing to
protect the Muslims. It was declared that thus it was
necessary to arm the Muslims with huge quantities of bombs
so that they could use those for their protection. The D
statements and confessions indicate that bombs were being
manufactured on that day to attain such object. One of the
confessing accused, who is an expert in manufacturing
bombs, had stated in his confession that he was told by
Rashid Khan to prepare bombs from such huge quantities of
explosive substances. The accused in his confession also E
stated that he told Rashid Khan that preparing bombs out of
such huge quantities of explosives would not only take whole
night of 16th March but would also need to next day till near
about the evening. The materials also indicate that on that
day while he left after preparing some bombs, others
continued to manufacture bombs out of explosive substances F
that had been collected. I was satisfied that the facts emerged
did cal/for prosecution under Sections 3 and 4 of TADA.

(Emphasis supplied)

It should also be stated, at this stage, that the High Court had G
overlooked the fact that Mr. Sujit Kumar Sanyal had sworn to the earlier
affidavit as the Head of the Special Investigating Team which has also been
mentioned by the Commissioner. Merely because of the failure of the Court
to mention that it had perused the order of sanction while taking cognizance
cannot lead to the conclusion that the existence of the order of sanction
could be doubted. H
46 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1994] SUPP. 6 S.C.R

A The finding that there was no order of sanction is not correct factually.
The affidavit of Sujit Kumar Sanyal clearly states as under:

"I say that on June 14, 1993 before the learned. Designated
Court had passed the order taking cognizance I had placed all
the papers including the two sanctions and the statements
B recorded under Section 161 of the Code before the Court. I
say that it was well within the competence of the learned
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate to be informed that
investigation under Section 3 & 4 of TADA Act was being
carried on and to correct the records by adding Sections 3 &
4 of the said Act."
c
Again in paragraph 12, the Affidavit proceeds to state:

"I further say that it was only in course of the investigation
that materials indicating commisison of offences under
Sections 3 and 4 of the said Act of I 987 had transpired. I
D further say that after the cognizance had been taken on the
basis of the charge-sheet and the materials collected after
investigation being the materials in the case diary which
include two sanctions and the statements recorded under
Section I 6 I of the Code and the documents seized and
various seizure lists the learned Deisgnated Court issued
E warrant of arrest against the absconding accused persons."

Paragraph 13 mentions as follows:

"I say that the sanction under the said TADA I 993 was
granted on I I June I 993 being No. I by the Commissioner of
F Police, Calcutta and under the Explosives Substance Act on
that day being 4509-P by the Government of Wes~ Bengal. I
. further say that the charge-sheet that was filed on I4.6.1993
has specifically mentioned that such sanction had already
been obtained. It is categorically denied that the initiation and
continuation of the said criminal proceeding against the
G petitioner and before the Designated Court under the TADA
and said order dated June I4, 1993 is illegal. It is not
necessary to mention in the order sheet that sanction was
granted. It is emphatically denied that no sanction was given
by the respondent Nos. 3 and 4 or that the law enjoins a duty
upon the Designated Court to record by an order the fact of
H having received such sanction."
STATE v. MOHAMMAD KHALID [MOHAN, J.] 47

There is no justification on the part of the High Court to ignore this A
affidavit because the Commissioner of Police, Calcutta had sworn to the
fact that a Special Investigation Team had been set up on March 18, 1993
which was headed by Sujit Kumar Sanyal.

The order of sanction, on the face of it, shows that the sanctioning
authority had perused the police papers. The High Court had to necessarily B
accept these averments on their face value. The correctness or otherwise of
the statement could be gone into only at the time of trial. This Court in
State ofBihar and Another v. P.P. Sharma, /AS and Another, [1992] Supp.
( 1) sec 222, already referred to, held as under:

"The sanction under Section 197 Cr.P.C is not an empty C
formality. It is essential that the provisions therein are to be
observed with complete strictness. The object of obtaining
sanction is that the authority concerned should be able to
consider for itself the material before the Investigation
Officer, before it comes to the conclusion that the
prosecution in ·the circumstances be sanctioned or forbidden. D
To comply with the provisions of Section 197 it must be
proved that the sanction was given in respect of the facts
constituting the offence charged. It is desirable that the facts
should be referred to on the face of the sanction. Section 197
does not require the sanction to be in any particular form. If
the facts constituting the offence charged are not shown on E
the face of the sanction, it is open to the prosecution, if
challenged, to prove before the court that those facts were
placed before the sanctioning authority. It should be clear
from the form of the sanction that the sanctioning authority
considered the relevant material placed before it and after a F
consideration of all the circumstances of the case it
sanctioned the prosecution.

In the present case the investigation was complete on the date
of sanction and police reports had been filed before the
Magistrate. The sanctioning authority has specifically G
mentioned in the sanction order that the papers and the case
diary were taken into consideration before granting the
sanction. Case diary is a complete record of the police
investigation. It contains total material in support or
otherwise of the allegations. The sanctioning authority
having taken the case diary into consideration before the H
48 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1994] SUPP. 6 S.C.R

A grant of sanction it cannot be said that there was non-
application of mind on the part of the sanctioning authority.
It is nobody's case that the avennent in the sanction order to
the effect that case diary was taken into consideration by the
competent authority, is incorrect. We, therefore, do not agree
with the finding of the High Court and set aside the same.
B (Emphasis supplied)

Finally, we are at a loss to understand as to why and on what
(.
· reasoning the High Court assumed extraordinary jurisdiction \
under Article 226/227 of the Constitution of India at a stage )
when the Speical Judge was seized of the matter."
c r
In view of this decision, the approach of the High Court under Article
226 is clearly wrong. l
It is true, as contended by Mr. Ram Jethmalani, there must be valid
sanction, otherwise there is a bar to take cognizance. In Gok:ulchand
D Dwarkadas Morarka v. The King, AIR 35 (1948) P.C. 82 at page 84 it was
observed thus:

" ....... The sanction to prosecute is an important matter; it
constitutes a condition precedent to the institution of the
E prosecution and the Government have an asbolute discretion
to grant or withhold their sanction. They are not, as the High
Court seem to have thought, concerned merely to see that the
evidence discloses a prima facie case against the peson
sought to be prosecuted. They can refuse sanction on any
ground which commends itself to them, for example, that on
F political or economic grounds they regard a proseuction as
inexpedient. Looked at as a matter of substance it is plain that
the Government cannot adequately discharge the obligation
of deciding whether to give or withhold a sanction without a
knowledge of the facts of the case. Nor, in their Lordships'
view, is a sanction given without reference to the facts
G constituting the offence a compliance with the actual terms of
cl. 23."

Reliance is placed by the learned counsel on Niranjan Singh K.S.
Punjabi v. Jitendra Bhimraj Bijjaya, [1990] 4 SCC 76 at page 83 wherein
at para this Court observed thus:
H
STATE v. MOHAMMAD KHALID [MOHAN, J.] 49

"Section 227, introudced for the first time in the new Code, A
confers a special power on the Judge to discharge an accused
at the threshold if 'upon consideration' of the record and
documents he considers 'that there is not sufficient ground'
for proceeding against the accused. In other words his
consideration of the record and document at that stage is for
the limited purpose of ascertaining whether or not there exists B
sufficient grounds for proceeding with the trial against the
accused If he will frame a charge under Section 228, if not
he will discharge the accused. It must be remembered that
this section was introduced in the Code to avoid waste of
public time over cases which did not disclose a prima facie
case and to save the accused from avoidable harrasment and C
expenditure.

(Emphasis supplied)

Equally, reliance is placed on State of Karnataka v. L. Muniswamy and
Others, [1977] 2 SCC 699. In paragraph 10, it is held as under: D
"It is wrong to say that at the stage of framing charges the
court cannot apply its judicial mind to the consideration
whether or not there is any gruond for presuming the
commission of the offence by the accused. As observed in
the latter case, the order framing a charge affects person's E
liberty substantially and therefore, it is the duty of the court
to consider judicially whether the material warrants the
framing of the charge. It cannot blindly accept the decision of
the prosecution that the accused be asked to face a trial."

· In our considered view, certainly. the Designated Court could do all F
these at the time of framing of charges and not the High Court under Article
226, as has been done in the instant case.

We are not in a position to accept the submissions of the learned
counsel for the respondent that in order to find out whether a valid sanction
existed, the High Court had appreciated the findings. G
Equally, much cannot be said of the fact that the order of sanction
mentions 'sanction for prosecution'. Since it is stated 'sanction for
prosecution under Sections 3 and 4 of TADA Act' it means only sanction to
proceed under Sections 3 and 4 of TADA Act. The ruling of Ram Kumar v.
State of Haryana, [1987] 2 sec 476 dealt with-the different situation as to H
so SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1994) SUPP. 6 S.C.R

A the scope of sanction under Sections 132 and 197 of the Code. In the case
of a public servant, both the sanctions were l_!ecessary. That judgment has
no application to the present case. , 1 •.
l 10,... '
Having regard to the various acts of express~d ,conspiracy, it has to be
"and/or". It .is only during the trial the prosecutiO'ri' ·lias to prove the part
B played by each of the accused.

In Alvin Krulewitch v. United States of America, 93 Law Ed. 790, at
page 799, it was held thus:

"When the trial starts, the accused feels the full impact of the
c conspiracy strategy: Strictly, the prosecution should firsi
establish prima · facie the conspiracy and identify the
conspifators, after which evidence of acts and declarations of
eac.h :in the course of its execution are admissible against all.
But the order·of proof of so sprawling a charge is difficult for l
a judge to control. As a practical matter, the accused often is
D confronted with a hodgepodge of acts and statements
brothers which be may never have authorized or intended or
even known about, but which help to persuade the jury of
existence of the conspiracy itself. In other weirds, a
conspiracy often is proved by evidence that is admissible
. only upon assumption that conspiracy existed."
E
(Emphasis supplied)

Hence, proving of conspiracy against each accused would arise only at
'the stage of the trial which is yet to commence it) the instant case. · •
In Walli Mohammad v~. The ~ing, AIR (1949) PC 103, it is held as
F under: ·

"The statements of each prisoner are evidence against
himself only and are inadmissible against his fellow accused.
Consequently, the only safe method of testing the strength of
the case for. the prosecution is to iake each man's case
G . separately, neglect the evidence of the other and ask whether
the conflicting and inconsistent nature of the matters alleged
and persons implicated combined with the admission that the·
accused man was himself present is enough to justify a
verdict agaisnt him. It may be possible that each is sherltering
H a third person and even if it be possible that one of the two
STATE v. MOHAMMAD KHALID [MOHAN, J.) 51

accused is guilty, there must be circumstances from which A
could be deduced which of the two is the guilty one. Though
proof of motive is not essential, it is a material consideration.
But it is not legitimate to speculate as ·to possible but
unproved. motives.

The difficulty in all cases where two persons are accuseq of a B
crime and where the evidence against one is ina~issible .
against the other is that however carefully assessors or a jury ··
are directed and however firmly a Judge may steel his mind
_,. against being influenced against one by the . evidence
admissible only against the other, nevertheless the mind may
inadvertently be affected by the disclosures made by one of c
the accused to the deteriment of the other." ·

Neither of these rulings would apply because the question of
leading evidence by the prosecution in relation to conspiracy;
as stated. above, woul~ arise only during the stage of trial
· ·. which. is yet to commence in the instarit case. D
. As to .the fact of conscpiracy, the charge-sheet clearly ·
mentions the·.· same. Therefore,. factually; this finding . is
wrong. We are not in a position to accept the argument of the
learned counsel for the respondent that if the bombs are for
self-defence, there is no mens rea and therefore, no offence E
under TADA. The finding of the High Court on this aspect is
asunder: . ..

"It may be noted that if according to the police report itself
the reason or intention behind preparing and ·storing· bombs
was to defend the muslim community in the event or riot F
taking place by possible attack ·by Hindus because the
'Government would not take action as was done in Bombay, it
·cannot possibly be inferred or said that the accused intended
to strike terror or that he had any other intent specified under
the TADA Act. It has, however, been submitted by Mr. Roy
in the course of his argument th~t there are statements of G
witnesses to the effect that the people of the locality were
'scared' of the accused, implying that they were con.sidered
as dangerous persons. It has been submitted further that
assuming the fact to be true, from this fact it does not follow
that the accused entered into a conspiracy to prepare and H
52 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1994] SUPP. 6 S.C.R

A store bombs with any of the intents specified in Section 3(1)
viz. to strike terror amongst the people or a section of the
people. It must also be remembered that mens rea is an
essential ingredient of an offence.,,

The least we can say is that this finding is shocking.
B
We may usefully refer to Ajay Aggarwa/'s case (supra). At pages 617-
618 it is stated:

"It is not necessary that each conspirator must know all the
details of the scheme nof be a participant at every stage. It is
c necessary that they should agree for design or object of the
conspiracy. Conspiracy is conceived as having three
elements: (l) agreement (2) between two or more persons by
whom the agreement is effected; and (3) a criminal object,
which may be either the ultimate aim of the agreement, or
may constitute the.means, or one of the means.by which that
D aim is to be accomplished. It is immaterial whether this is
· found in the ultimate objects. The common law definition of
'criminal conspiracy' was stated first by Lord Deriman in
Jones case that an indictment or conspiracy must "charge a
·conspiracy to do an unlawful act by unlawful means" and
was elaborated by Willies, J. on behalf of the judges while
E referring the. question to the House of Lords in Mucahy v.
Reg and House of Lords in unanimous decision reiterated in
Quinn v. Leathern."

"conspiracy consists not merely in the intention of two or
more, but in the agreement of two or more, to do'an unlawful
F act, or to do a lawful act, or to do a lawful act by unlawful
means. So long as such a design rests in intention only, it is
not indictable. When two agree to . carry it into effect, the
very plot is an act in itself, and the act of each of the parties,
promise against promise, actus contra actum, capable of
being enforced, if lawful; and punishable if for a criminal
\·o- object, or for the use of criminal means."

This Court in E.O. Barsay v. State of Bombay held:

"The gist of the offence is an agreement to break the law.
The parties to such an agreement will be guilty of criminal
H conspiracy, though the illegal act agreed ~o be done has not
STATE v. MOHAMMAD KHALID [MOHAN, J.) 53

been done. So too, it is an ingredient of the offence that all A
the parties should agree to do a single illegal act. It may
comprise the commission of a number of acts. Under Section
43 of the Indian Penal Code, an act would be illegal if it is
prohibited by law."

In Yash Pal Mitta/ v. State ofPunjab the rule was laid as follows: (SCC B
P. 543, para 9)

" ..... The very agreement, concert or league is the ingredient
of the offence. It is not necessary that all the conspirators
must know each and every detail of the conspiracy as long as
they are co-participators in the main object of the conspiracy. C
There may be so many devices and techniques adopted to
achieve the common goal of the conspiracy and there may be
division of performances in the chain of actions with one
object to achieve the real end of which every collaborator
must be aware and in which each one of them must be
interested. There must be unity of object or purpose but there D
may be plurality of means sometimes even unknown to one
another, amongst the conspirators. In achieving the goal
several offences may . be committed by some of the
conspirators even unknown to the others. The only relevant
factor is that all means adopted and illegal acts done must be E
and purported to be in furtherance of the object of the
·conspiracy even though there may be sometimes misfrre or
over-shooting by some of the conspirators."

In Mohammad Usman Mohammad Hussain Maniyar v. State of
Maharashtra it was held that for an offence under Section 120-B IPC, the F
prosecution need not necessarily prove that the conspirators expressly
agreed to do or cause to be done the illegal act, the agreement may be
proved by necessary implication."

The very preparation of bombs and possession of bombs would
tantamount to terrorising the people. If proved, it will be a terrorist act and G
sub-sections (1) and (3) of Section 3 of the Act may also be attracted. The
existence of 26 live bombs is a clear indication of conspiracy.

As regards the non-mention of threat to sovereignty and integrity in
sanction order, we think there is a misunderstanding. This Court in Kartar
Singh v. State of Punjab, JT 1994 (2) SC 423 at page 454 determined the H
54 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1994] SUPP. 6 S.C.R

A legislative competence of the Parliament to enact this law. What is relied on
by the learned counsel for the respondents is paragraph 72 of the said
judgment.. That states as follows: ·

"Jbe terrorism, the. Act (TADA) contemplates, cannot be
classified as mere disturbance of 'Public Order' disturbing
·B the "even tempo of the life community of any specified
locality" in the words of Hidayatulla, CJ in Arun Ghosh v.
State of West Bengal, [1970] 3 SCR 288 but it is much more,
· rather a grave emergent situation created either by external
forces partiCularly .at the frontiers of this country or by anti-
nationals throwing a challenge to the very existence and
C sovereignty of the country in its democratic policy."

Again, in Hitendra Vishnu Thakur and Others v. State of Maharashtra
and Others, [1994] 4 SCC 602, it is stated in paragraph 7 as under:

"Terrorism is one of· the manifestations of increased
D lawlessness and cult ·of violence. Violence and crime
constitute a threat to an established order and are a revolt
against a civi~ised society. 'Terrorism' has not been defined
under TADA nor is it possible to give a precise definition of
'terrorism' or lay down what constihites 'terrorism'. It may
be possible to describe it as use of violence when its most
E important result is not merely the physicc:tl and mental
.damage of the victim but the prolonged psychological effect
it produc.es or has the potential. of producing on the society as
a whole.· There may be death, .injury, or destruction of
property or even deprivation of individual liberty in the
process but the extent and reach of the intended terrorist
F activity travels beyond the effect of an ordinary ~rime
capable of being punished under the ordinary penal law of
the land and its main objective is to overawe the Government
or disturb harmony of the society or 'terrorise' people and
the society and not only those directly assaulted, with a view
to .disturb even tempo, peace and· tranquility of the society ·
G
and create a sense of fear and insecurity."

·Again, in paragraph 14, this Court went on to hold:

"Therefore, it is the obligation of the investigation agency to ·
satisfy the. Designated .Court frointhe material collected by it
H
STATE v. MOHAMMAD KHALID [MOHAN, J.] 55

during the investigation, and not merely by the opinion A
fonned by the investigating agency, that the activity of the
'terrorist' falls strictly within tpe parameters of the provisions
of TADA before seeking to /charge-sheet an accused under
TADA. The Designated Coj.irt must record its satisfaction
about the existence of a prima facie case on the basis of the
material on the record before\it proceeds to frame a charge- B
sheet against an accused for off~nces covered by TADA".

Without proceeding further, all that we can say, in this case, is that the
materials are enough to bring the case under Section 3(1) of the Act. Of
course, in order to establish this, evidence will have to be led in during the
trial. Therefore, we restrain from making any further observation which C
may tend to prejudice the parties. If that be so, the question of.mentioning
in the sanction order that the ordinary law has broken down, does not arise.

Coming to taking cognizance; it has been held by the High Court that it
is not a reasoned order. We are of the view that Ute approach of the High
Court in this regard is clearly against the decision of this Court in S°rree D
Atyachar Virodhi Parishad's case (supra) in paragraph 14 as under:

"It is in the trial, the guilt or the innocence of the accused
will be detennined and not at the time of framing of charge.
The court, therefore, need not undertake an elaborate enquiry
in shifting and. weighing the material. Nor is it necessary to E
delve deep into various aspects. ·All that the court has to
consider is whether the evidentiary material on record if
generally accepted, would reasonably connect the accused
with the crime. No more need be enquired into."

Again, in Niranjan Singh K.S. Punjabi's case (supra), it is stated at F
page 85 as under:

"Again in Supdt. & Remembrancer of Legal Affairs, West
Bengal v. Anil Kumar Bhunja, this Court observed in
paragraph 18 of the judgment as under:
G
"The standard of test, proof and judgment which is to be
applied finally before finding the accused guilty or otherwise,
is not exactly to be applied at the stage of Section 227 or 228
of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. At this stage, even
a very strong suspicion founded upon materials before the
Magistrate, which leads him to form a presumptive opinion H
56 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1994) SUPP. 6 S.C.R

A as to the existence of the factual ingredients constituting the
offence alleged, may justifY the framing of charge against the
accused in respect of the commission of that offence. "

(Emphasis supplied)

B the confessional statements of the two accused were very much there
before the Court. There is no reason to believe that the Court had not
looked at the same.

The other finding that what can be looked at is only the police report,
cannot be s1,1stained. In Satya Narain Musadi and Others v. State of Bihar,
c [ 1980] 3 sec 152 at pages 157-158, it was held as under:

" ....... The report as envisaged by Section .173(2) has to .be
accompanied as· required by sub-section (5) by 'an the
documents and statements of the witnesses therein
mentioned.. One cannot divorce the details which the report
must c.ontain as required by sub-section (5) from its
accompaniments which are required to be subipitted under
sub-section (5). The whole of its is submitted as a report to
the Court. But even if a narrow construction is adopted that
the police report can only be what is prescribed in Section
173(2) there would be sufficient compliance if what is
E required to be mentioned by the statute has been set down in
the report. Jo say that all the details of the offence must be
set out.in the report under Section 173(2) submitted ~y the
police officer would be expecting him to do something more
than what the Parliament has expected him to set out therein.
If the report with sufficient particularity and clarity specifies
F . the contravention of the law which is the alleged offence, it
would be sufficient compliance \.;ith Section 1 L The details
which would be necessary to be proved to bring him the guilt
to the accused would emerge at a later stage, when after
notice to the accused a charge is framed against him and
further in the course of the trial.
G
The ruling Uma Charan v. State of Madhya Pradesh and Another,
[1982] 1 SCR 353, cited by Mr. Dipankar Ghosh, has no application to the
facts of this case because Regulation 5 (5) of the Indian Public Service
(Appointment. by Promotion) Regulations, 1955, in that ·case, required
reasons to be recorded.
H
STATE v. MOHAMMAD KHALID [MOHAN, J.] 57

That is not the position here. Hence, that is clearly distinguishable. The A
High Court has found in the impugned judgment as follows:

"The acts which the accused persons did is the act of
preparation and storage of bombs, which are undoubtedly
made of explosive substances. From these acts of preparation
and storage of bombs, it cannot be inferred that the accused B
intended to kill the Hindus or strike terror amongst the people
or a section of the people, alienate a section of the people or
adversely affect the harmony among different sections of the
people. Such an intent cannot be inferred from the mere
preparation and storage of bombs. It may be noted in this
connection that police report does not disclose that the C
accused persons caused the explosion. As a consequence of
the explosion which occurred on March 16, 1993 a large
number of persons who were killed were Muslims and not
Hindus and even from the consequences of the explosion
with which the accused have not been charged, it cannot be D
inferred that accused who are alleged to have been
responsible for the preparation and storage of the bombs,
intended to kill Hindus, or strike terror amongst a section of
people or that they had any of the intents specified in Section
3(1) of the Act."
E
We are clearly of the opinion that this is a perverse reasoning.

On intention and motive, we only need to refer to Corpus Juris
Secundum (A Contemporary Statement of American Law, Volume 22. It is
held at page 116 (Criminal Law) as under:
F
"Intention

a. In general

b. Specific or general intent crimes

a. In General G

As actual intent to commit the particular crime toward which the act
moves is a necessary element of an attempt to commit a crime. Although
the intent must be one in fact, not merely in law, and may not be inferred
from the overt act alone, it may be inferred from the circumstances."
H
58 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1994] SUPP. 6 S.C.R

A As regards motive in American Jurisprudence, Second Edition,
Volume 21, in Section 133, it is stated as under:

"S. 133 Motive

In criminal law motive may be defined as that which leads or
B tempts the mind to indulge in a criminal act or as the moving
power which impels to action for a definite result."

Tested in the light of the above, suffice it to hold the preparation and
storage of bombs, as pointed out above, are per se illegal acts. The intention
that it was to defend the Muslims, i,s totally unwarranted. "Bomb is not a
c toy or top to play with". The further question is, when does the so-called
right of self-defence arise? The High Court should have assumed that each
of the allegations made in the charge-sheet to be factually correct and
should have examined the ingredients of the offence. As rightly contended
by Mr. U.R. Lalit, learned senior counsel, the charge-sheet cannot be
considered in a restricted way.
D
On a careful perusal of the judgment we are left with the impression
that the High Court had indulged in a laboured exercise, without limiting
itself to the proper jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of
India, in matters of this kind. We do not want to elaborate on the motive to
prepare bombs and the intention thereto since the trial is yet to commence.
E
For all the above reasons we have absolutely no hesitation in holding
that the High Court has clearly exceeded its powers under Article 226 of the
Constitution in quashing the orders of sancti1;>n and taking of cognizance.
Therefore, we set aside the impugned judgment of the High Court and
direct the Designated Court to proceed with the case in accordance with the
Jaw with utmost expedition. .·
F
In the result, the criminal appeals are allowed accordingly.

A.G. Appeals allowed.

If°'.