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Gujarat High Court

Laljibhai Popatbhai Dabhi vs State Of Gujarat on 7 December, 2023

                                                                                   NEUTRAL CITATION




    R/SCR.A/14494/2023                               ORDER DATED: 07/12/2023

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IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/SPECIAL CRIMINAL APPLICATION (QUASHING) NO. 14494 of 2023
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                 LALJIBHAI POPATBHAI DABHI
                            Versus
                     STATE OF GUJARAT
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Appearance:
MR V B MALIK(5071) for the Applicant(s) No. 1,2
for the Respondent(s) No. 2
MS MONALI BHATT, ADDL. PUBLIC PROSECUTOR for the Respondent(s) No. 1
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  CORAM:HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE HASMUKH D. SUTHAR

                            Date : 07/12/2023
                             ORAL ORDER

[1.0] By way of present petition under Articles 14, 19, 21, 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India read with Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, the petitioners have prayed for the following relief:

"(A) This Hon'ble Court may be pleased to quash and set aside the complaint registered with Dhrangadra Taluka Police Station being CR No.11211016230440 of 2023 for offences punishable under sections 323, 324, 325, 341, 504, 506(2) and 114 of IPC and section 135 of GP Act and sections 3(2)(va) of the Atrocity Act in the interest of justice;"

[2.0] Mr. J.D. Purohit, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Dhrangadra, District Surendranagar has remained personally present before this Court and submitted the report dated 07.12.2023, which is taken on record.

[3.0] With the consent of learned advocates appearing for the respective parties, present petition is taken up for final hearing today.

NEUTRAL CITATION R/SCR.A/14494/2023 ORDER DATED: 07/12/2023 undefined [4.0] Learned advocate for the petitioners has mainly argued that the present petitioners belong to scheduled caste and hence, provisions of the Atrocity Act would not be applicable and to buttress his argument, he has relied on the certificate dated 21.08.2017 issued by the Taluka Development Officer, Taluka Panchayat, Dhrangadra, which is annexed at page 19 of the petition. The Investigating Officer has also confirmed the fact that the petitioners also belong to the scheduled caste.

[5.0] Considering the aforesaid fact, provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act would not be applicable qua the present petitioners who happen to be father and son. Hence, present petition is partly allowed and impugned FIR being CR No.11211016230440 of 2023 registered with Dhrangadra Taluka Police Station, District Surendranagar is quashed and set aside insofar as offence under Section 3(2)(va) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act is concerned.

[6.0] So far as other offences under the Indian Penal Code are concerned, investigation is at nascent stage and considering the report submitted by the Investigating Officer, prima facie involvement of the petitioners is made out and hence, this Court is not inclined to quash the impugned FIR in toto. While examining the impugned FIR, it appears that this is not a case to scuttle the criminal proceedings when at the initial stage prima facie offence is made out and FIR does not fall within the purview of exception and rarity than the original rules. Ordinarily, the Courts are barred from usurping the jurisdiction of the police, since the two organs of the State operate in two specific spheres Page 2 of 4 Downloaded on : Fri Dec 08 20:42:44 IST 2023 NEUTRAL CITATION R/SCR.A/14494/2023 ORDER DATED: 07/12/2023 undefined of activities. The inherent power of the Court is, however, recognized to secure the ends of justice or prevent the above of the process by Section 482 of the CrPC. At this stage, it will be profitable to refer to the decision of the Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of Neeharika Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. vs. State of Maharashtra reported in 2021 SCC OnLine SC 315, wherein it is observed and paragraph 57 of which reads as under:

"57. From the aforesaid decisions of this Court, right from the decision of the Privy Council in the case of Khawaja Nazir Ahmad (supra), the following principles of law emerge:

i) Police has the statutory right and duty under the relevant provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure contained in Chapter XIV of the Code to investigate into cognizable offences;

ii) Courts would not thwart any investigation into the cognizable offences;

iii) However, in cases where no cognizable offence or offence of any kind is disclosed in the first information report the Court will not permit an investigation to go on;

iv) The power of quashing should be exercised sparingly with circumspection, in the 'rarest of rare cases'. (The rarest of rare cases standard in its application for quashing under Section 482 Cr.P.C. is not to be confused with the norm which has been formulated in the context of the death penalty, as explained previously by this Court);

v) While examining an FIR/complaint, quashing of which is sought, the court cannot embark upon an enquiry as to the reliability or genuineness or otherwise of the allegations made in the FIR/complaint;

vi) Criminal proceedings ought not to be scuttled at the initial stage;

vii) Quashing of a complaint/FIR should be an exception and a rarity than an ordinary rule;

viii) Ordinarily, the courts are barred from usurping the jurisdiction of the police, since the two organs of the State Page 3 of 4 Downloaded on : Fri Dec 08 20:42:44 IST 2023 NEUTRAL CITATION R/SCR.A/14494/2023 ORDER DATED: 07/12/2023 undefined operate in two specific spheres of activities. The inherent power of the court is, however, recognised to secure the ends of justice or prevent the above of the process by Section 482 Cr.P.C.

ix) The functions of the judiciary and the police are complementary, not overlapping;..."

[7.0] In wake of the aforesaid discussion, present petition is partly allowed by quashing and setting aside the impugned FIR being CR No.11211016230440 of 2023 registered with Dhrangadra Taluka Police Station, District Surendranagar only qua the offence under Section 3(2)(va) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act only qua present petitioners. However, the Investigating Officer to carry out the investigation in connection with the offences under the IPC and if any other offence is detected during the course of investigation, the concerned Investigating Officer shall have liberty to investigate the same. Present petition is partly allowed in aforesaid terms.

(HASMUKH D. SUTHAR, J.) Ajay Page 4 of 4 Downloaded on : Fri Dec 08 20:42:44 IST 2023