Court No. - 85
Case :- APPLICATION U/S 482 No. - 12241 of 2021 Applicant :- Sushil Kumar Opposite Party :- State of U.P. and Another Counsel for Applicant :- Santosh Kumar Singh,Surendra Prasad Mishra Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.
Hon'ble Syed Aftab Husain Rizvi,J.
Heard learned counsel for the applicant and learned A.G.A. for the State-respondent.
This Criminal Misc. Application under Section 482 of Cr.P.C. has been filed to quash the entire proceedings of Criminal Case No.1194 of 2020 (State VS. Sushil Kumar) arising out of Case Crime No.0035 of 2020, under Sections 353, 504, 506 I.P.C., Police Station- Gajraula, District- Amroha.
Learned counsel for the applicant submitted that according to the F.I.R. the alleged incident is of 23.01.2020 and F.I.R. has been lodged on the next date on 24.01.2020. It is alleged that complainant has gone on the spot to remove encroachments but there is no order under which he has gone to the place of occurrence. Learned counsel submitted that in a very short span within ten days investigation has been completed and charge sheet has been submitted. No independent witness of the vicinity has been examined by the Investigation Officer. The Investigating Officer has only recorded the statement of complainant and one Des Pal, Revenue Inspector and has submitted the charge sheet. Learned counsel further submitted that there was no encroachment on the spot, construction of accused was behind the electricity poll which indicates that it is not on the public way as alleged in the F.I.R. The Investigating Officer without collecting the reliable evidence and without recording the statements of the villagers has submitted the charge sheet. It is also contended that learned Court below without applying his judicial mind has taken cognizance on set proforma without mentioning any reason for the cognizance in arbitrary manner.
Learned Standing Counsel submitted that the accused is named in the F.I.R. and there are allegations that when complainant who is Lekhpal reached at the place of occurrence to remove encroachment on the public way he was abused and threatened with death. The complainant is a public servant. Accused- applicant also used criminal force to desist the public servant from discharging his duties. The Investigating Officer recorded the statement of complainant and eye witness- Des Pal, the Revenue Inspector. The Investigating Officer has also recorded the statement of accused in which he has admitted that he was raising construction. The Investigating Officer has inspected the place of occurrence and prepared the site plan and on the basis of the evidence collected during investigation has submitted the charge sheet. The learned Magistrate on the basis of the material available on the case diary has taken cognizance and passed the summoning order.
The contents of the F.I.R. prima facie discloses a cognizable offence and after due investigation charge sheet has been submitted. It is not necessary that there should be statement of independent witnesses. Complainant and another eye witness has corroborated the allegations of the F.I.R.. It is settled principle of law that at the stage of taking cognizance only prima facie case is to be seen. The learned Magistrate being satisfied with the material available on the case diary has came to the conclusion that there is sufficient evidence and has taken cognizance. So, there is no illegality in the impugned order. There is no sufficient ground to quash the criminal proceedings as there is no material to show that the F.I.R. is an abuse of process of law and continuation of proceedings is abuse of process of the Court. Hence, this criminal misc. application under Section 482 Cr.P.C. lacks merit and is liable to be dismissed.
Accordingly, the application is hereby dismissed.
However, it is directed that in case the applicant surrender before the court below and applies for bail, the same shall be considered and decided expeditiously in accordance with law.
Order Date :- 21.12.2021 Krishna*