Protecting lives & properties of citizens burdened on State: SC

New Delhi: The State is bounded to the duty to ensure the lives and properties of citizens, as well as other persons, are always protected, the Supreme Court observed, PTI reports.

A bench of Justices K M Joseph and B V Nagarathna observed so, adding that every attempt which succeeds at the hands of anyone "whereby the efficacy of criminal law is diluted, will remove the very edifice of the rule of law fatally", PTI quoted. The court was deciding on a plea seeking the transfer of a criminal case pending before a Jhajjar court in Haryana to a court in Delhi.

"The State exists on the basis of implied consent of the Governed. The principal reason for people to come together under the organization of the State is the fundamental principle that the State will be in a position to always protect the lives and properties of the citizens. This is the fundamental unalterable premise for the creation, existence and preservation of any civilized State. It is all the more so when the State is functioning under a written constitution which guarantees fundamental rights such as ours," the bench said.

"It is accordingly that rule of law is rightfully treated as part of the basic structure of the Constitution. It is the bounden duty of any State to ensure that the lives of its citizens and other persons are at all times protected. The same goes for their properties." The bench added that this is the elementary function of the State, but "we are not at this stage called upon to deal with the duties of the State with the mantle of a welfare State falling upon it. Even if this indispensable function to constitute a State is not performed, it would be a lamentable state of affairs".

It said that the principal mechanism for vindicating the rule of law and upholding the rights of the citizens is the judicial branch of the State.

"One of the fundamental methods by which the rule of law is preserved consists of sanctions of which the criminal law is the principal branch. The criminal courts must be allowed to function in a manner by which, at the end of the day, the guilty are punished, and the innocent are exonerated," it said.

The top court further said that the role of the public prosecutor in all of this is paramount, and he is duty bound to always act in a fair manner; not, of course, to secure a conviction by hook or crook but at the same time, it is his duty to fearlessly adduce evidence so that those who are guilty do not get away scot-free.

"Unless this is done, it is very likely that the common man will cease to have faith in the very functioning of the State itself. It is, therefore, integral to the upholding of the integrity of the State itself that the access to justice, which is also comprehended in the principle that an offence is committed against the State and the State, therefore, prosecutes the offender, is always borne in mind," the bench said.

It is the case of the petitioners that during an agitation, the members of the Jatt community vandalized and committed acts of arson, which allegedly caused huge irreparable damage to them by setting their houses, godowns and other belongings on fire. With the chaotic protests, the Jatt community who were seeking reservation in government jobs and educational institutions.