Court No. - 47
Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. WRIT PETITION No. - 25867 of 2019 Petitioner :- Jay Prakash Singh Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 3 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Sanjeev Kumar Tyagi Counsel for Respondent :- G.A.
Hon'ble Manoj Misra,J. Hon'ble Gautam Chowdhary,J.
Heard learned counsel for the petitioner; the learned A.G.A. for the respondents 1, 2 and 3; and perused the record.
The instant petition seeks quashing of the first information report dated 29.11.2019 registered as Case Crime No. 1006 of 2019 at P.S. Phase-II, District- Gautam Budh Nagar, under Section 3/5 of Public Property Damage Prevention Act, 1984.
The allegation in the impugned first information report is that the petitioner has encroached plot no. 498, which is property of Noida Authority, and has set up a dairy.
The contention of the learned counsel for the petitioner is that an offence punishable under Section 3/5 of Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act would not be made out because by mere setting up a dairy, no act of mischief, within the meaning of Section 425 of the Indian Penal Code, would be committed.
Learned A.G.A. has submitted that as per the definition of mischief, provided in the Indian Penal Code, any change in the property or in the situation thereof would also amount to mischief and since the allegation is that a dairy has been set up over public land, it would be covered within the definition of mischief. Hence, the offence punishable under Section 3/5 of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act is made out.
Whether the petitioner has raised constructions and has thereby changed the nature of the property, or only animals were tied there, is a matter to be determined on the basis of material collected during the course of investigation and therefore it would not be appropriate for us to record any finding in that regard.
Prima facie, it cannot be said that the first information report discloses no offence.
Under the circumstances, the prayer of the petitioner to quash the first information report cannot be accepted.
The petition is dismissed without prejudice to petitioner's right to apply for bail or anticipatory bail, as may be advised.
Order Date :- 19.12.2019 Sunil Kr Tiwari