This Criminal Miscellaneous Case is filed by accused 1 to 4 in C.C.No.642/2013 on the file of the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court-III, Thiruvananthapuram to quash the proceedings on the basis of a settlement under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. 2. It is alleged in the petition that on the basis of the statement given by the second respondent as de facto complainant, Museum police of Thrivananthapuram district has registered a crime as Crime No.22/2013 against the petitioners alleging offence under Section 119 (a) of the Kerala Police Act and after investigation, Annexure-A1 final report was filed and it was taken on file as C.C.No.642/13 and that is pending before court.
3. Now the matter has been settled between the parties.
The de facto complainant has no grievance against the petitioners. No purpose will be served by allowing the case to continue as well as none of the witnesses will support the case of the prosecution. Since it is a non compoundable offence, the petitioners have no other remedy except to approach this Court seeking the following reliefs:
i. Quash Annexure A1, final report and all further proceedings pending against the petitioners pursuant to C.C.No.642/2013 before the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court-III, Thiruvananthapuram arising out from Crime No.22/2013 of the Museum Police station, Thiruvananthapuram District.
ii. Grant such other relief deemed fit to this Hon'ble Court.
4. The second respondent appeared through counsel and submitted that he has no grievance against the petitioners now as the matter has been settled in view of intervention of well wishers of both the parties. He had also filed an affidavit stating these facts.
5. The counsel for the petitioners submitted that even assuming that the case is allowed to proceed with in view of the fact that the matter has been settled and none of the real aggrieved persons namely the girls against whom such gestures alleged to have been made were not even questioned or cited as witnesses, no purpose will be served by proceeding with the case as well and it will be only wastage of judicial time. So he prayed for allowing the application.
6. On the other hand, the learned Public prosecutor submitted that considering the nature of allegations of the offence alleged, the matter cannot be quashed as it is a question of public policy.
7. It is an admitted fact that on the basis of the statement given by the second respondent as the defacto complaint, Museum police has registered Crime No.22/2013 of that police station against the petitioners alleging offence under Section 119(a) of the Kerala Police Act and after investigation, final report was filed and it was taken on file as C.C.No.642/2013 and pending before the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court-III, Thiruvananthapuram.
8. It is true that as submitted by the learned Public Prosecutor that it is an offence against women and as a public policy, this Court is not expected to quash the proceedings. Section 119(a) of the Kerala Police Act reads as follows:
119. Punishment for atrocities against women:- (1) Any person who, -
(a) performs, in public places, any sexual gestures or acts degrading the dignity of women; or So the real aggrieved person as per that section is the woman against whom such gestures have been made. But unfortunately in this case, the girl friends of the defacto complainant against whom such gestures have been made affecting their dignity have not been questioned and their statements were not recorded and they were not even cited as witnesses as well. So, under such circumstances, even if the case is allowed to proceed with, no purpose will be served as the de facto complainant and his witnesses will not support the case of the prosecution in view of the settlement and allowing the case to continue in such circumstances, will amount to wastage of judicial time only. So considering the circumstances, this Court feels that power under Section 482 of the Code can be invoked to quash the proceedings in view of the circumstances mentioned above to avoid the time of the court being wasted in proceeding with such cases.
8. So, the application is allowed and further proceedings in C.C.No.642/2013 (Crime No.22/2013 of Museum police station, Thiruvananthapuram) on the file of the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court-III, Thiruvananthapuram as against the petitioner is quashed.
Office is directed to communicate this order to the concerned court immediately.
Sd/-
K. RAMAKRISHNAN, JUDGE.
cl /true copy/ P.S to Judge