The petitioner herein is the original 8th accused in C.C No.330/2009 of the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court, Alappuzha. The offences involved are under Sections 143, 147, 148, 149, 294(b), 452 and 427 IPC. Crime in the case was registered on the complaint of one Pushpavalli. The other 7 accused faced trial in the court below in C.C No.330/2009, and obtained a judgment of acquittal under Section 248 (1) Cr.P.C, when none of the witnesses supported the prosecution. The case against the petitioner herein was split up, and refiled as C.C No.91/2011, and now it stands transferred to the register of long pending cases as L.P 19/2011. The petitioner now seeks orders quashing the prosecution as against him on the ground that continuance of prosecution will not serve any purpose. The Annexure II judgment in C.C No.330/2009 shows that the prosecution examined three witnesses in the said case including the de facto complainant Pushpavalli. When nobody supported the prosecution, the learned Assistant Public Prosecutor gave up the other witnesses, and the court closed the evidence. The de facto complainant Pushpavalli and the other witnesses did not in any manner support the prosecution. They turned fully hostile to the prosecution, in view of an amicable settlement Crl. M.C No.7006 of 2014 2 made by the parties out of court. I am well satisfied that continuance of prosecution in such a situation will be a sheer waste of time. The prosecution cannot in any manner improve the case as against the petitioner, and the material witnesses also cannot in any manner support the prosecution, if the case goes to trial. Practically, continuance of prosecution will be a sheer waste of time. In the result, this petition is allowed. The prosecution against the petitioner herein in C.C No.91/2011 of the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court, Alappuzha, which stands transferred to the register of long pending cases as L.P 19/2011, will stand quashed under Section 482 Cr.P.C. Accordingly, the petitioner will stand released from prosecution.
P.UBAID, JUDGE sab