Karnataka High Court: While deciding the instant matter arising out of a fake surety for bail which had been created on the property of the petitioner, the Bench of Suraj Govindraj, J., keeping in mind the general importance of the issue laid down certain guidelines/steps to be followed whenever any surety is furnished for release of an accused on bail.
In the instant case, fake surety was created on the property of the petitioner and the petitioner came to know of the fake surety only when the said property was brought to sale on account of default by the accused in the criminal matter.
The Court noted that the AGA had been unable to point out the safeguards which are built in respect of collection of sureties, only to state that any person could furnish photocopies of the documents to the value fixed by the Court while granting a bail, anticipatory bail or passing any such order and the said document would be taken on record as security.
The Court was of the opinion that unless effective steps are taken, innocent third parties would be put at great risk unwittingly and unknowingly; therefore, the Court laid down the guidelines/steps. Some of the important ones are as follows-
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Whenever a person is to stand as surety, the same must be cross- checked with the database to verify if such person has stood as surety earlier. The Court should keep a watch on such persons who repeatedly come to stand as sureties.
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The sureties shall produce Bank Pass Books or Ration Cards, Aadhar Card or some other form of identity cards to establish their identity with reference to the particulars of the solvency certificate.
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Every solvency certificate should contain the signature of the issuing authority with name and designation stamp and date of issue, only original solvency certificates to be accepted.
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The issuing authority should obtain the photograph, signature or clear thumb impression of the surety on the solvency certificate and attest the same.
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The solvency certificate is to also be accompanied by a self-attested copy of the Aadhar card of the surety.
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The employees who stand as sureties shall be directed to produce identity and salary certificates from their employer. It should contain the signature of the employee duly attested by the employer.
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At the time of accepting the surety the signature/thumb impression of the surety be obtained on the solvency certificate or salary certificate to satisfy that the solvency or salary certificate relates to the surety present in the court along with a photograph.
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Each surety shall furnish his full name, father’s name, age, occupation, and complete postal address to the Court.
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If surety is provided in the form of property, the details of the property to be cross checked by the concerned ministerial officer from the web-site of the revenue department, by using the BHOOMI or KAVERI software as may be required.
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The UIDAI must provide and equip all Courts with necessary equipment and software to authenticate the identity of the surety using the Aadhar card.
[Narayana B. v. State of Karnataka, WRIT PETITION NO. 8524 OF 2019 (GM-RES), decided on 23-09-2022]
Advocates who appeared in this case :
Petitioners- Venkatesh P. Dalwai, Advocate
Respondents- Namitha Mahesh, HCGP
*Sucheta Sarkar, Editorial Assistant has prepared this brief.