P.S.R. Sadhanantham v. Arunachalam and Anr Article 21: Useless

Useless
P.S.R. Sadhanantham v. Arunachalam and Anr.

Article 21, in its sublime brevity, guardians human liberty by insisting on the prescription of
procedure established by law, not fiat as sine qua non for deprivation of personal freedom.
And those procedures so established must be fair, not fanciful, nor formal nor flimsy, as laid
down in Maneka Gandhi's case. So, it is axiomatic that our constitutional jurisprudence
mandates the State not to deprive a person of his personal liberty without adherence to fair
procedure laid down by law.
It is apparent that there is no statutory provision which creates a right of appeal in favour of
a stranger enabling him to challenge an acquittal by the High Court. The Criminal Procedure
Code does not create such a right of appeal and, speaking generally, a right of appeal is the
creature of statute. So it is submitted that before the court may grant special leave
under Art. 136 there must be an antecedent right of appeal, absent which the question of
leave by the court does not arise.
The discretionary dimension is considerable but that relates to the power of the court. The
question is whether it spells by implication, a fair procedure as contemplated by Art. 21. In
our view, it does. Article 136 is a special jurisdiction. It is residuary power; it is extra
ordinary in its amplitude, its limit, when it chases injustice, in the sky itself.
It is fair to assume that while considering the petition under Art. 136 the court will pay
attention to the question of liberty, the person who seeks such leave from the court, his
motive and his locus standi and the weighty factors which persuade the court to grant
special leave. When this conspectus of processual circumstances and criteria play upon the
jurisdiction of the court under Art. 136, it is reasonable to conclude that the desideratum of
fair procedure implied in Art. 21 is adequately answered.
the bogey of busybodies blackmailing adversaries through frivolous invocation of Art.136 is

chimerical.
petioner
Even the English System, as pointed by the Discussion paper, permits a private citizen to file
an indictment. In our view, the narrow limits set, in vintage English law, into the concept of
'person aggrieved' and 'standing' needs liberalisation in our democratic situation. In
Dabholkar's case this court imparted such a wider meaning. The American Supreme Court
relaxed the restrictive attitude towards 'standing' in the famous case of Baker v. Carr. Lord
Denning, in the notable case of the Attorney-General of the Gambia v. Pierra Sarr N' Jie, spoke
thus:
....the words 'person aggrieved' are of wide import and should not be subjected to a restrictive
interpretation. They do not include, of course, a mere busybody who is interfering in things
which do not concern him;
PATHAK, J: The High Court of Madras in its appellate jurisdiction acquitted the petitioner,
Sadhanantham, of charges under s. 302 and s. 148, I.P.C. Arunachalam, a brother of the
deceased, petitioned to this Court under Article 136 of the Constitution for special leave to
appeal against the acquittal. The court granted special leave, and ultimately allowed the
appeal, Arunachalam v. P.S.R. Sadhanantham, and setting aside the judgment of the High
Court restored the conviction and sentence imposed by the trial court under s. 302, I.P.C. The
petitioner has filed this writ petition contending that the judgment and order of this Court is a
nullity and should be set aside. The principal contention is that Article 136 did not empower
this Court to grant special leave to Arunachalam (the third respondent) and the grant of special
leave by the Court and its entertaining the appeal violates Article 21 of the Constitution.
The maintainability of the appeal on the ground that Arunachalam was not entitled to petition
under Article 136 of the Constitution for special leave was challenged before the Bench
hearing the appeal, but the Bench over-ruled the objection holding that it had ample power
under Article 136 to entertain the special leave petition. The learned Judges laid down that the
Court had jurisdiction to entertain appeals against judgments of acquittal by the High Court at
the instance of private parties.
We have read the judgment of our learned brother V. R. Krishna Iyer, but because of the
importance of the question we consider it necessary to set down our own view

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P.S.R. Sadhanantham v. Arunachalam and Anr.

the bogey of busybodies blackmailing adversaries through frivolous invocation of Art.136 is

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