Uttarakhand High Court
Hon'Ble R.C. Khulbe vs Ashok Kumar Bajaj on 5 November, 2019
Author: R.C. Khulbe
Bench: R.C. Khulbe
C-482 No.49 of 2018 With IA No.9504 of 2018 (Misc. Application with Suppl. Affidavit) IA No.13375 of 2019 (Urgency Application) Hon'ble R.C. Khulbe, J.
Mr. Piyush Garg, learned Advocates for the applicant.
Mr. Pankaj Joshi, learned Brief Holder for the State.
Mr. Rajat Mittal, learned Advocate holding brief of Mr. Vikas Bahuguna, learned Advocate for respondent no.2.
Supplementary affidavit is taken on record. Misc. application, made therefor, stands disposed of.
Heard learned counsel for the parties. This criminal miscellaneous application under Section 482 of Cr.PC has been filed for quashing the order dated 03.01.2017 and 25.01.2017 passed by the IVth Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Dehradun in Criminal Complaint No.180 of 2011, B.K. Bajaj Vs. Ashok Kumar Bajaj, whereby the opportunity to produce complainant's evidence under Section 244 Cr.P.C. has been closed and the respondent has been discharged and the order dated 01.12.2017 passed by the learned Vth Additional Sessions Judge, Dehradun in Criminal Revision No.66 of 2017, whereby the revision against the order dated 25.01.2017 has been dismissed.
Crux of the case is that, a criminal complaint no.5626/11, B.K. Bajaj Vs. Ashok Kumar Bajaj was filed by the applicant before 1st Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Dehradun. The matter was fixed on 03.01.2017 for recording the evidence under Section 244 Cr.P.C. On that day, the complainant/ applicant was present before the Court while the learned counsel for the applicant was absent. Accordingly, the applicant moved an 1 application for adjournment, which was rejected by the IVth Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Dehradun and ultimately, evidence of the complainant was closed and matter was fixed on 25.01.2017 for framing charges. On 25.01.2017, an adjournment application was moved by the complainant, which was also rejected and the accused was discharged under Section 245 Cr.P.C. Aggrieved by it, the complainant filed a revision no.66 of 2017, B.K. Bajaj Vs. State and another. After hearing both the parties, the learned Revisional Court dismissed the revision on 01.12.2017 and affirmed the order dated 25.01.2017 passed by the IVth Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Dehradun. Aggrieved by it, the present criminal misc. application has been filed under Section 482 Cr.P.C. for quashing the above orders passed by both the Courts.
It is argued by learned counsel for the applicant that applicant was ready to adduce the evidence on 03.01.2017 but on that day his counsel was not present before the Court and he was bound to move an application for adjournment but his adjournment application was rejected without any cause and opportunity to adduce the evidence under Section 244 Cr.P.C. was closed. Not only this, on 25.01.2017, the learned trial Court discharged the accused under Section 245 Cr.P.C. without giving any opportunity to the complainant to adduce the evidence. The Revisional Court, simply, on the basis of order sheets passed by lower Court, dismissed the revision as well. It is also argued by the learned counsel for the applicant that he is ready to adduce the evidence and he may be given one more 2 opportunity to adduce the evidence under Section 244 Cr.P.C.
Learned counsel appearing on behalf of the respondent no.2, opposed the present application as the matter is pending since 2011 and the applicant is taking unnecessary adjournment in the complaint case without any cause.
From the perusal of the order sheet dated 03.01.2017, it is clear that the complainant was present on that day. Since his counsel was not present before the Court, he was bound to seek adjournment because the complainant had no option and due to shortage of time he was not able to appoint another counsel to proceed with the matter. From the order sheet, it is clear that the learned Magistrate did not give sufficient opportunity to adduce the evidence to the complainant while the complainant was ready to adduce the evidence under Section 244 Cr.P.C.
In these circumstances, the present criminal misc. application filed under Section 482 Cr.P.C. is finally disposed of and the order dated 03.01.2017 as well as order dated 25.01.2017 passed by the IVth Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Dehradun are set aside and the order dated 01.12.2017 passed by the Vth Additional Sessions Judge, Dehradun in Criminal Revision No.66 of 2017 is also hereby quashed.
Both the parties are directed to appear before the trial Court on 18.11.2019. On that day, the complainant will produce all the evidence before the Court under Section 244 Cr.P.C.
Since the matter is an old one and pertains to the year 2011, hence, the learned trial Court is directed to conclude 3 the trial within a period of one year from the date of receipt of a copy of this order, as per law.
Pending applications, if any, also stand disposed of.
Let a certified copy of this order be supplied by tomorrow itself to the learned counsel for the parties on payment of usual charges, as per rule.
(R.C. Khulbe, J.) 05.11.2019 Sukhbant 4