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Ebha Arjun Jadeja & Ors. v. The State of Gujarat

Criminal Appeal · 2019 INSC 1148Decided 16 Oct 2019
Criminal Appeal No. 1692 of 2009
Justice Deepak Gupta · Justice Aniruddha Bose

Background

The appellants were stopped at a police checkpoint in a notified TADA (Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1987) area in Gujarat and found carrying unlicensed firearms, including a foreign-made pistol and a revolver. They were charged both under the Arms Act and under TADA, since carrying prohibited arms in a notified area is itself an offence under TADA. The accused sought discharge from the TADA charges on the ground that the mandatory sanction procedure under Section 20-A(1) of the TADA Act, requiring police to seek prior approval of a District Superintendent of Police before recording information under TADA, had not been followed; the Designated TADA Court rejected this discharge application, leading to the appeal.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that where the only offence disclosed by the information recorded is one falling under TADA itself (as opposed to an ancillary TADA offence arising out of some separate serious crime like murder or rape), the police cannot bypass the mandatory sanction requirement of Section 20-A(1). Since the sole basis for both the Arms Act and TADA charges here was the identical recovery of prohibited weapons in a notified area, and no sanction was obtained, the Court held the non-compliance was fatal to the TADA prosecution. It distinguished this from cases where TADA arises only incidentally to a separate primary offence, in which sanction would still be needed before proceeding under TADA but the initial arrest/investigation for the main offence could proceed without it. The appeal was allowed, the TADA Court's order was set aside, and the appellants were discharged from the TADA offence, though the Court clarified they could still be prosecuted under the Arms Act.

Lesson Learnt

Special anti-terrorism laws carry extra procedural safeguards (like a mandatory sanction before registering a case) precisely because of their severity, and courts will strictly enforce such safeguards: failure to follow them can void that specific charge even though prosecution under an ordinary law for the same conduct may still continue.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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