Rajasthan High Court - Jaipur
Geo Varghese vs State Of Raj And Anr on 30 April, 2019
Author: Pankaj Bhandari
Bench: Pankaj Bhandari
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHAN
BENCH AT JAIPUR
S.B. Criminal Miscellaneous (Petition) No. 2979/2018
Geo Varghese S/o Sh. K.G. Varghese, R/o A-391, Railway
Colony, Jagatpura, Jaipur.
----Petitioner
Versus
1. State Of Rajasthan through PP.
2. Smt. Priti Lata W/o Rajkumar Lata B/c Brahmin, R/o
H.No.8, Krishna Vihar Colony, Ajmer Road, Opp. Shyam
Nagar Sabji Mandi, Sodala, Jaipur.
----Respondents
For Petitioner(s) : Mr. Arvind Kumar Gupta.
For Respondent No.2 : Mr. Deepak Chauhan with
Mr. Mohit Khandelwal.
For State : Mr. Arvind Kumar Chawla, PP.
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE PANKAJ BHANDARI
Judgment / Order
30/04/2019
1. Petitioner has preferred this Criminal Misc. Petition for
quashing of FIR No.162/2018, registered at Police Station, Sodala,
Jaipur City (South) for the offence under Section 306 of IPC.
2. It is contended by counsel for the petitioner that an FIR
came to be lodged on 02.05.2018 alleging that the deceased
committed suicide on the night of 25.04.2018. He was under
severe mental stress because of misbehaviour and ill-treatment by
the petitioner. It is contended that petitioner was taking P.T. class
from class 1st to Vth standard and was also incharge to maintain
the discipline of the school. It is contended that the deceased was
a student of class 9 th. He used to bunk classes. He was warned by
the school staff not to do so. He bunked the class on 19.04.2018
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and again on 25.04.2018. The officials of the school informed his
parents to come to the school on 26.04.2018 at 9.00 am.
Deceased on 25.04.2018 committed suicide. It is argued that
there was no abatement of the offence. It is also argued that the
offence does not fall within the purview of Section 107 of IPC.
3. Counsel for the petitioner has placed reliance on "M. Mohan
vs. State AIR 2011 SC 1238, S.S. Cheena vs. Vijay Kumar
Mahajan & Anr. JT 2010 (8) SC 331 and State of Haryana &
Ors. vs. Ch. Bhajan Lal & Ors. AIR 1992 SC 604."
4. Counsel for the complainant and Learned Public Prosecutor
have opposed the Criminal Misc. Petition. Their contention is that Police after due investigation has come to the conclusion that offence under Section 305 of IPC is made out against the present petitioner. It is contended that from the C.V.T.V. footage, it is revealed that the petitioner unnecessarily harassed the deceased in front of his classmates. He was a P.T. Teacher of class 1 st to Vth and had no business to harass the deceased in front of his classmates.
5. It is also contended that from perusal of the FIR, commission of cognizable offence is made out. The deceased was a student of class 9th, aged about 15 years and before committing suicide, he chatted on Instagram with his friend and complained about the present petitioner. It is also contended that since Police has concluded that the offence is made out, in inherent jurisdiction, the FIR should not be quashed.
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(3 of 5) [CRLMP-2979/2018] 6. Counsel for the complainant has placed reliance on
"Dineshbhai Chandubhai Patel vs. State of Gujarat & Ors. 2018 (3) SCC Page 106."
7. I have considered the contentions and have perused the FIR.
8. In the FIR, it is alleged that the deceased was harassed by the present petitioner, as a result of which he was in severe mental stress. Papers of his diary have also been recovered by the Police, wherein the deceased has mentioned "Needed Justice". He has also mentioned "thanks Geo (P.T.I.) of my school."
9. The judgments cited by counsel for the petitioner in M. Mohan vs. State (Supra) was a case where the charges were framed against the accused. High Court has rejected the petition for quashing the charge-sheet. The Apex Court observed that the appellants were not remotely connected with the offence under Section 306 of IPC and thus, quashed the charges under Section 306 of IPC. S.S. Cheena vs. Vijay Kumar Mahajan & Anr. (Supra) was a case where the accused-appellant was convicted by the Courts below. The Apex Court held that a person can be convicted only if it is proved that an act has been caused by his conduct. There has to be a clear mens rea to commit the offence. In State of Haryana & Ors. vs. Ch. Bhajan Lal & Ors. (Supra), the Apex Court detailed out the categories of cases wherein power under Section 482 Cr.P.C. should be exercised. Clause 1 to 7 of the said categories is reproduced here under:
"(a) where the allegations made in the First Information Report or the complaint, even if they are taken at their face value and accepted in their entirety do not prima facie constitute any offence or make out a case against the ac-
cused;
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(b) where the allegations in the First Information Report and other materials, if any, accompanying the F.I.R. do not disclose a cognizable offence, justifying an investigation by police officers under Section 156(1) of the Code except under an order of a Magistrate within the purview of Section 155(2)of the Code;
(c) where the uncontroverted allegations made in the FIR or complaint and the evidence collected in support of the same do not disclose the commission of any offence and make out a case against the accused;
(d) where the allegations in the FIR do not constitute a cognizable offence but constitute only a non-cognizable offence, no investigation is permitted by a police officer without an order of a Magistrate as contemplated under Section 155(2) of the Code;
(e) where the allegations made in the FIR or complaint are so absurd and inherently improbable on the basis of which no prudent person can ever reach a just conclusion that there is sufficient ground for proceeding against the accused;
(f) where there is an express legal bar engrafted in any of the provisions of the Code or the concerned Act (under which a criminal proceeding is instituted) to the institu- tion and continuance of the proceedings and/or where there is a specific provision in the Code or the concerned Act, providing efficacious redress for the grievance of the aggrieved party;
(g) where a criminal proceeding is manifestly attended with mala fide and/or where the proceeding is maliciously instituted with an ulterior motive for wreaking vengeance on the accused and with a view to spite him due to private and personal grudge".
10. The present case does not fall under any of the categories mentioned in State of Haryana & Ors. vs. Ch. Bhajan Lal & Ors. (Supra) and the judgments cited by the petitioner cannot be applied at the present stage, as in the present case, the Court is only required to see whether the FIR discloses the commission of a cognizable offence. The High Court at this stage cannot appreciate the evidence nor can it draw its own inferences from the contents of the FIR and the material relied on.
11. In Dineshbhai Chandubhai Patel vs. State of Gujarat & Ors. (Supra), the Apex Court has held that the High Court at this stage (Downloaded on 28/06/2019 at 04:01:17 AM) (5 of 5) [CRLMP-2979/2018] could not appreciate the evidence nor could draw its own inferences and such job is vested with the Investigating Authority. The Apex Court further observed that if the FIR disclose prima facie commission of any cognizable offence, High Court should stay its hand and allow the investigating machinery to step in to initiate the probe to unearth the crime in accordance with the procedure prescribed in the Code.
12. The matter pertains to a child aged 15 years, who has committed suicide because he was humiliated in presence of his classmate which had a grave mental impact, he shared the same with his friend vide Instagram. Since, FIR discloses commisison of a cognizable offence and Police has concluded that the offence under Section 305 of IPC is made out, I do not find any force in the Misc. Petition.
13. The Criminal Misc. Petition is accordingly dismissed. Stay petition stands disposed.
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