Rajasthan High Court - Jaipur
(Akshat Sharma & Anr. vs State Of Rajasthan & Anr.) on 14 July, 2015
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHAN AT JAIPUR BENCH JAIPUR O R D E R S.B.Criminal Misc. Petition No.2673/2015 (Akshat Sharma & Anr.Vs State of Rajasthan & Anr.) Date of Order ::::: 14.07.2015 HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE PRASHANT KUMAR AGARWAL Mr.Neeraj Sharma, for the petitioner. Mr.Rishi Raj Singh Rathore,Public Prosecutor for State.
Mr.Saransh Saini, for respondent No.2.
The accused-petitioners have filed this Criminal Misc.Petition under Section 482 Cr.P.C.with a prayer to quash FIR No.425/2014 registered at Police Station Manak Chowk, Jaipur for offence under Section 384 IPC.
Brief relevant facts for the disposal of this petition are that aforesaid FIR came to be registered at the instance of the respondent-complainant on the premise that petitioners being reporters of a TV Channel exerted pressure upon the complainant and demanded Rs.10 lacs, otherwise complaint would be made against him to the Sales Tax Department.
It was submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioners that for an offence to be made out under Section 384 IPC, it is to be shown firstly; that the accused intentionally put in any person in fear of injury and secondly; in consequence of such fear, he dishonestly induced the person so put in fear to deliver some property etc., but in the present case, even if for the sake of arguments, allegations made in the FIR are taken to be true and correct in entirety, even then the essential ingredients to constitute the aforesaid offence are not disclosed even prima facie. It was prayed that in view of the above, the FIR and all criminal proceedings undertaken therein are liable to be quashed and set aside.
On the other hand, learned Public Prosecutor assisted by the learned counsel for the complainant, submitted that on the bare perusal of FIR, it cannot be said that the aforesaid offence is not made out and, therefore, the present case is not of such nature in which this Court may exercise its inherent powers under Section 482 Cr.P.C. to quash the FIR at this preliminary stage.
On consideration of submissions made on behalf of the respective parties and the material made available on record and on reading of FIR, it is found that offence under Section 384 IPC is not disclosed even prima facie as it is not even the case of complainant himself that any money was paid by him to the petitioners or any other person as a result of fear allegedly extended upon him by the petitioners which is one of the essential ingredients to constitute such offence, but as per allegations made in the FIR, offence under Section 385 IPC is prima facie disclosed.
Consequently, the criminal misc.petition petition is partly allowed and the aforesaid FIR to the extent of offence under Section 384 IPC is quashed and set aside, but the investigating agency is free to proceed further in accordance with law so far as offence under Section 385 IPC is concerned. The stay application also stands disposed of.
(PRASHANT KUMAR AGARWAL), J teekam S.No.42 All corrections made in the judgment/order have been incorporated in the judgment/order being emailed.
Teekam Khanchandani Private Secretary