Court No. - 71
Case :- CRIMINAL APPEAL No. - 3260 of 2019 Appellant :- Pappu @ Raghunath Singh Lodhi Respondent :- State Of U.P. And Another Counsel for Appellant :- Kamlesh Tiwari Counsel for Respondent :- G.A.
Hon'ble Rajiv Gupta,J.
Heard learned counsel for the applicant, learned AGA for the State and perused the record.
This criminal appeal has been filed by the appellant with the prayer to quash the charge sheet No. 80 of 2018, cognizance order dated 30.10.2018 passed by Special Judge SC/ST (P.A. Act),Lalitpur, as well as entire proceedings of S.S.T. No. 274 of 2018 (State Vs. Pappu @ Raghunath Singh) arising out of Case Crime No. 85 of 2018, under Sections 504, 506, 186 IPC and (1) D, Dh of SC/ST Act, P.S. Madawara, District-Lalitpur.
As per the allegations made in the FIR and the statement of first informant recorded under Section 161 Cr.P.C., it is alleged that on 01.06.2018 at about 5.00 p.m., the applicant abused the victim with the name of his caste with an intention to humiliate and intimidate him in public view and threatened him of life and at the relevant time, the applicant tried to obstruct him in discharge of his public functions.
Learned counsel for the applicant 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 applicant 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, and prayed that the charge sheet, cognizance order and entire proceedings be quashed.
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 applicants and as such, entire proceedings cannot be quashed.
Moreover, all the submissions made at the bar relates to the disputed question of fact, which cannot be adjudicated upon by this Court. 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 charge sheet, cognizance order as well as entire proceedings is therefore refused.
However, it is directed that if the applicant appears/surrenders before the court below and applies for bail, his 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 appeal is finally disposed of.
Order Date :- 26.8.2019 v.k.updh.