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RAIPUR: Alarmed over the rampant practice of submission of forged documents and sureties in trial courts, Chhattisgarh high court has laid down strict guidelines, making Aadhaar card, verification of surety and surety papers mandatory for issuing release warrant of the accused after granting of bail.

During the hearing on a bail application of a person, who is accused of standing surety in a court by impersonating another person, government counsel informed the bench of Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra that in almost every court in the state forged sureties are produced to obtain bail on the basis of forged revenue or by impersonating the real surety.

It was also argued that this menace is not controlled and regulated it will attain enormous proportion, therefore, this Court must pass necessary orders directing trial Courts to ensure obtaining papers of identification at the time of approving surety documents for issuing release warrants. Other lawyers, present in the court, did not dispute that the practice of submission of forged revenue documents and sureties is rampant in trial courts.

Considering the nature of the crime and the menace of submission of sureties by fictitious persons, the high court issued directions to all trial courts that while examining the surety paper the trial court shall necessarily obtain a copy of the Aadhaar Card of the accused as well as of the surety. Besides, the Aadhaar Card of the accused and the surety, as well as the genuineness of the revenue papers, shall be verified by all the trial Courts, as soon as the same are furnished, preferably within a period of one week from the date of its submission.

The high court also directed that the release warrant shall be issued only after proper verification of the identity of the accused and the surety as well as the genuineness of the surety papers and in the event of surety papers or the Aadhaar Card is found to be forged, the trial Court concerned shall lodge an FIR against the person who submitted the surety papers and Aadhaar details.

The high court directed the district and sessions Judge to maintain a register/database in electronic form containing the case No., crime No., particulars of the accused, details of the police station, particulars of the person who has stood surety for the accused therein, the details of the property against which the surety is based and so on. “If a particular surety is found to have stood surety in many cases on the basis of same property papers, the same shall be rejected, if it is involved in more than two cases”, the order said.

As per the order issued on Friday last, the revenue officer concerned and the station house officer shall cooperate with the trial court for verification of surety papers as well as the Aadhaar details of the accused and the surety. “All the trial Courts shall meticulously follow these directions and shall certify in the order sheet of the respective case that “the verification of papers has been done in accordance with the order passed by the high court of Chhattisgarh”, the order said adding If such certification is not made by the trial Court, disciplinary action may be initiated against the erring Presiding Officer.

Citing an Supreme Court observations in the case of Binoy Vishwam versus Union of India and others, the high court, in its order, noted that the apex court highlighted the objectives of Aadhaar observing that by making use of the technology, a method is sought to be devised, in the form of Aadhaar, whereby identity of a person is ascertained in a flawless manner without giving any leeway to any individual to resort to dubious practices of showing multiple identities or fictitious identities.

While laying down guidelines for releasing a person after granting of bail, the High Court granted bail to the applicant Ved Prakash Gupta , who was working as an Advocate’s clerk who impersonated another person and stood surety by affixing his photograph in the property papers of other persons.

