Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, July 22: The High Court has taken strong note of not furnishing the whole record of the case by the Judicial Magistrate and also passing the order of custody of the child to the mother beyond duty hours without affording opportunity to the father.
The petitioner-Fayaz Ahmad Mir has approached the High Court challenging the order dated 24.02.2024 passed by court of Judicial Magistrate (Sub Judge), Chadoora, in a case in terms of which proceedings have been initiated against the petitioner- father and the custody of the minor Ward has been taken from him and handed over to the respondent/mother.
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It has been stated before the court of Justice Moksha Kazmi that while the minor son of the parties was in lawful custody and care of the father, the mother out of vengeance and ill advice, filed a false and frivolous application before the court of Sub Judge/Judicial Magistrate Chadoora, and a direction was sought upon SHO Police Station, Chadoora, to recover the minor son of the parties from the alleged wrongful confinement of the petitioner.
The trial court directed for production of the minor child and then handed over his custody to the respondent in terms of order dated 24.02.2024. The warrant for search of minor son of the parties came to be issued pursuant to which the concerned SHO took the lawful custody of the minor child from the petitioner. Thereafter, the learned Magistrate handed-over the custody of the minor child to the respondent.
The court has persued the digitized record called from the trial court which revealed that the proceedings had again to be initiated at 4 pm on 24.02.2024, but the digitized record sent by the Magistrate with proper index and pagination did not contain any order passed after 4 pm on 24.02.2024.
Justice Kazmi after noticing the non-availability of the order purportedly passed by the Magistrate at his official residence on 24.2.2024 in the evening hours, in the scanned record as submitted to this Court, is not only incomprehensible but shocking too as it gives rise to many reasonable apprehensions.
“It cannot be ipso facto believed that the order has been inadvertently skipped while sending the record to this Court as the learned Magistrate cannot be believed to be so ignorant to understand the importance of the certified copy of the order produced by the learned senior counsel”, the court said adding with “It is a digitized record of the original file not the photo-state copy of file, as such there was no occasion that the same could have been skipped or missed out from the record. It does not also transpire as to why the order dated 24.02.2024 passed at 7:30 pm was not sent to this Court and what were the compelling circumstances which forced the Magistrate to pass an order at his official residence at 7:30 pm in absence of the other side that too without affording them any opportunity of being heard”.
The court while taking serious note of all these facts and in order to protect the sanctity of the court orders deemed it expedient that the matter is enquired into so that not only the veracity of the order is ascertained but the apprehensions of whatever kind are also set at rest.
Justice Kazmi directed the Registrar Vigilance, High Court to enquire into the matter and submit his report within a period of four weeks from today, to the Chief Justice for appropriate orders.
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