Allahabad High Court
Ashok Kumar Shukla vs State Of U.P. And Anr. on 24 October, 2019
Author: Rajiv Gupta
Bench: Rajiv Gupta
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD ?Court No. - 71 Case :- CRIMINAL APPEAL No. - 6585 of 2019 Appellant :- Ashok Kumar Shukla Respondent :- State Of U.P. And Anr. Counsel for Appellant :- Rajeev Ratan Shukla,Mohd.Aslam Azhar Khan Counsel for Respondent :- G.A. Hon'ble Rajiv Gupta,J.
Heard learned counsel for appellant, learned A.G.A. for the State and perused the record.
This criminal appeal has been filed by the appellant against the order dated 20.08.2019 passed by learned Special Judge (SC/ST Act)/Additional District and Sessions Judge IInd, Deoria, by which the appellant's application for discharge has been rejected.
Learned counsel for the appellant has submitted that as per the allegations made in the complaint and the statements of the witnesses, no offence is made out against the appellant.
Learned counsel for the appellant has further submitted that there are inconsistencies in the statement of the complainant and the court below has not considered those inconsistencies and has illegally rejected the discharge application.
Per contra, learned AGA has supported the impugned order and has submitted that from the allegations made in the complaint and the statements of the victim and the witnesses recorded under Sections 200 CrPC and 202 CrPC, prima facie offence is clearly made out against the appellant and the appellant had taken a sum of Rs.2,00,000/- from the complainant and when he asked to return back the said money, then the appellant abused him with the name of his caste with an intention to humiliate and intimidate him and also tried to assault him by lathi, due to which, he suffered injuries on his person and has been medically examined.
Having considered the rival submissions made by learned counsel for the parties and taking into consideration of specific allegation made in the complaint regarding intimidating and assaulting the victim by lathi, offence is clearly made out against the appellant. The court below while passing the impugned order has considered each and every aspect of the matter and has passed well reasoned order, which do not call for any interference by this Court at this stage.
It is also to be noted that at the stage of discharge the court has to consider the material only with a view to find out if there is a ground for 'presuming' that the accused had committed the offence :
"It is trite that at the stage of framing of charge, the court is required to evaluate the material and documents on record with a view to finding out if the facts emerging therefrom, taken at their face value, disclose the existence of all the ingredients constituting the alleged offence or offences. For this limited purpose, the court may sift the evidence as it cannot be expected even at the initial stage to accept as gospel truth all that the prosecution states. At this stage, the court has to consider the material only with a view to find out if there is ground for presuming that the accused has committed an offence and not for the purpose of arriving at the conclusion that it is not likely to lead to a conviction."
"Section 227 itself contains enough guidelines as to the scope of enquiry for the purpose of discharging an accused. It provides that the judge shall discharge when he considers that there is no sufficient ground for proceeding against the accused. The ground in the context is not a ground for conviction, but a ground for putting the accused on trial. It is in the trial, the guilt or the innocence of the accused will be determined and not at the time of framing of charge. The court, therefore, need not undertake an elaborate enquiry in sifting and weighing the material. Nor is it necessary to delve deep into various aspects. All that the court has to consider is whether the evidentiary material on record. If generally accepted, would reasonably connect the accused with the crime."
In view of the aforesaid facts and circumstances of the case, the prayer for quashing the impugned order is rejected. This criminal appeal lacks merit and it is accordingly dismissed.
Order Date :- 24.10.2019 Nadim