The Delhi High Court has quashed two FIRs registered against former Aam Aadmi Party MLA Kuldeep Kumar and four others in connection with a Tiranga Yatra held during Independence Day celebrations in 2021, holding that the cases arose from a single continuing transaction and could not be subjected to successive prosecutions.
Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma also set aside the criminal proceedings arising from the FIRs against Ravinder, Yogesh, Anita Bhatt and Dhirender.
The Court quashed FIR No. 413/2021 registered at Kalyanpuri Police Station and FIR No. 372/2021 registered at Ghazipur Police Station, along with all proceedings emanating from them.
The criminal cases arose from a Tiranga Yatra allegedly led by Kumar, who was then the MLA representing the Kondli Assembly constituency. The Delhi Police alleged that the procession was conducted in breach of restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic, including prohibitory orders, social-distancing requirements and mandatory mask protocols.
The procession passed through areas falling within the jurisdiction of multiple police stations. Consequently, separate FIRs were registered under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code, which deals with disobedience to an order duly promulgated by a public servant.
Kumar and the other petitioners approached the High Court contending that the various FIRs were not based on independent incidents but related to the same Tiranga Yatra. They argued that permitting separate criminal proceedings in relation to different stretches of the same procession would amount to repeated prosecution for one transaction.
The petitioners further pointed out that Kumar and co-petitioner Ravinder had already suffered conviction in connection with the FIR registered at New Ashok Nagar Police Station.
They relied upon the constitutional protection against double jeopardy under Article 20(2) of the Constitution and the statutory safeguard contained in Section 300 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
The prosecution, however, maintained that the procession’s entry into the jurisdiction of different police stations and its continued alleged violation of prohibitory orders constituted separate acts of disobedience. On that basis, it sought to sustain the individual FIRs registered at the respective police stations.
The High Court did not accept this contention.
Justice Sharma observed that the material before the Court did not demonstrate that the Tiranga Yatra had concluded after the alleged violation forming the basis of the first FIR. There was also no indication that the participants had dispersed and subsequently assembled again, which could have potentially constituted a fresh and distinct occurrence.
Instead, the prosecution’s own case was that the same procession continued moving through different localities.
The Court accordingly held that the mere fact that the procession travelled through areas administered by different police stations could not, by itself, transform one continuous occurrence into multiple independent offences.
In determining whether the FIRs related to the same transaction, the Court applied the “test of sameness”. It found the requisite continuity in the alleged conduct, including a common purpose and design, proximity in time and place, and an uninterrupted course of action.
The Court noted that the FIRs essentially concerned the same alleged violation of prohibitory orders and COVID-19 protocols during the movement of the Tiranga Yatra. Differences in the points at which police officials from different jurisdictions reported the alleged violations did not alter the underlying character of the occurrence.
Thus, the Court concluded that the alleged violations constituted one continuous transaction rather than separate incidents merely because the procession traversed different police jurisdictions.
The High Court also clarified that its ruling should not be construed as laying down an absolute prohibition against registration of multiple FIRs in cases involving alleged violations of Section 188 IPC.
A subsequent FIR may remain legally sustainable where the later occurrence is demonstrably distinct, a counter-version is involved, or investigation subsequently reveals a larger conspiracy or an independent offence.
The Court found, however, that none of those circumstances existed in the present case.
Since the FIRs challenged before it arose from the same Tiranga Yatra and satisfied the test of sameness, the High Court held that continuation of separate prosecutions could not be sustained.
The Court consequently quashed the two FIRs registered at Kalyanpuri and Ghazipur police stations and all consequential proceedings against Kumar and the other petitioners.
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