The special court set up to deal with the National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) cases can also try cases against the accused persons facing charges only under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) when such persons are linked to the case of same incident/transaction registered under specified criminal laws that are exclusively triable by the special court for NIA cases, said the High Court of Karnataka.
DJ Halli case
Justice M. Nagaprasanna passed the order while rejecting a petition filed by 28-year-old Sayyed Sohel Torvi, a resident of Bengaluru. The petitioner is an accused in the chargesheet filed by the NIA on the violence occurred in KG Halli-DJ Halli localities in the city on August 11, 2020.
The petitioner had sought a direction to transfer trial against him to a regular jurisdictional court while contending NIA court cannot proceed against him as he was charged only for the offences under the IPC and not under under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), 1967. The UAPA is among the specified criminal laws, offences under which are exclusively triable by the special court for NIA cases.
Though petitioner was part of the mob that indulged in the acts that attract punishment under the UAPA, he was not charged under Section 18 of the UAPA for conspiracy with other accused but was charged for criminal conspiracy under Section 120B of the IPC.
Special court empowered
However, the High Court, after analysing the provision of the NIA Act, 2008, the Code of Criminal Procedure and the apex court’s verdicts, said that “Section 14 of the NIA Act empowers the special court to try any other offence with which the accused may, under the IPC be charged, at the same trial, if the offence is connected with such other offence.
While upholding order passed by the NIA court refusing to transfer the case against the petitioner to a regular jurisdictional court, the High Court said that petitioner can also be tried by the special court for NIA cases, notwithstanding the fact that the offences alleged against him are the ones under the IPC, in the light of the fact that they arose out of the very same transaction/incident.
