Court No. - 65
Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. WRIT PETITION No. - 1759 of 2019 Petitioner :- Hemant Kumar Chonkar Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 3 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Abhay Pratap Singh,Abhay Pratap Singh Counsel for Respondent :- G.A.
Hon'ble Karuna Nand Bajpayee,J. Hon'ble Ifaqat Ali Khan,J.
Heard learned counsel for the petitioner, Sri Shyam Singh Yadav appearing for Power Corporation, learned AGA for State and perused the impugned F.I.R as well as material on record.
This writ petition has been filed with a prayer to quash the impugned F.I.R dated 25.5.2018 registered as Case Crime No. 0576 of 2018 under Section 135 of Electricity Act, Police Station Khurja Nagar, District Bulandshahar.
Submission is that offence involved in the case are compoundable in nature and petitioner is prepared to enter the process of compounding. The arrest of the petitioner under these circumstances is wholly uncalled for. Counsel also tried to submit that the petitioner is not guilty of committing any offence deliberately other contentions have also been raised on behalf of the accused petitioner which relate to disputed question of fact and cannot be adjudicated upon at this stage in exercise of writ jurisdiction. From the perusal of the F.I.R., it appears that on the basis of the allegations made therein, prima facie, cognizable offence is made out. There is no ground for interfering in the F.I.R. Therefore, the prayer for quashing the impugned F.I.R. is refused as this case does not fall even in any of the categories recognized by the Apex Court in Bhajan Lal's case, which may justify interference by this Court.
However, learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the offence involved are compoundable and the petitioner is ready to deposit the compounding amount.
Learned counsel appearing on behalf of Electricity Department and learned A.G.A have also submitted that there are provisions in the Electricity Act for compounding the offence and they have no objection, if petitioner seeks and participate in compounding proceedings before the authorities concerned.
Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, we dispose of the writ petition with the direction that the petitioner shall file his application/ representation within two weeks from today for compounding before the concerned authority, who shall make an endeavour to decide the matter within two months from today in accordance with law.
For period of two months or till the submission of police report under Section 173 (2) Cr.P.C. whichever is earlier, the petitioner shall not be arrested in the aforesaid case.
Order Date :- 22.1.2019 Nadeem Ahmad