Court No. - 71
Case :- CRIMINAL APPEAL No. - 5407 of 2019 Appellant :- Geeta Devi @ Geeta Yadav And Another Respondent :- State Of U.P. And Another Counsel for Appellant :- Ashok Kumar Singh Counsel for Respondent :- G.A.
Hon'ble Rajiv Gupta, J.
Heard learned counsel for the appellants, learned AGA for the State and perused the record.
This criminal appeal has been filed by the appellants with the prayer to quash the further proceedings of S.S.T. No.154 of 2018 (State Vs. Geeta and others), arising out of Case Crime No. 230 of 2017, under Sections 323, 504, 506, 427 IPC and Sections 3(1)(Da), 3(1)(Dha), 3(2) 5 Ka of SC/ST Act, Police Station Tarwa, District Azamgarh.
As per the allegations made in the FIR, it is alleged that on 20.11.2017 at about 5:30 PM, the appellants abused the victim Girija with the name of his caste with an intention to humiliate and intimidate him in public view and also assaulted, due to which, Jaddu and Girija have suffered injuries on their persons and have been medically examined. The cross-case has also been registered.
Learned counsel for the appellants has submitted that from the perusal of the allegations made in the FIR and the material collected during the course of investigation, no offence is disclosed against the appellants and the present prosecution has been instituted with a malafide intention for the purposes of harassment. He has pointed out certain documents and statements in support of his contention.
Per contra, learned AGA has submitted that from the perusal of the allegations made in the FIR and the material collected during the course of investigation, prima facie offence is clearly made out against the appellants and as such, further proceedings cannot be quashed.
Moreover, at this stage, only prima facie case is to be seen in the light of the law laid down by the Hon'ble Apex Court in the cases of R.P. Kapur Vs. State of Punjab, AIR 1960 SC 866, State of Haryana Vs. Bhajan Lal, 1992 SCC (Cri.) 426, State of Bihar Vs. P.P. Sharma, 1992 SCC (Cri.) 192 and lastly Zandu Pharmaceutical Works Ltd.
Vs. Mohd. Saraful Haq and another, (Para-10) 2005 SCC (Cri.) 283. The disputed defence of the accused cannot be considered at this stage.
The prayer for quashing the further proceedings is therefore refused.
However, it is directed that if the appellants appear/surrender before the court below and apply for bail, their prayer for bail shall be considered and decided as expeditiously as possible after giving opportunity of hearing to both the parties.
With the aforesaid observations, this criminal appeal is finally disposed of.
Order Date :- 22.8.2019 Nadim