Delhi District Court
Criminal Case/520/2002 on 7 June, 2012
1
IN THE COURT OF MS. SMITA GARG, ADDITIONAL CHIEF
METROPOLITAN MAGISTRATE02, NORTH, TIS HAZARI COURT,
DELHI
FIR No. 520/02
P.SLahori Gate
U/s 63/68A Copyright Act
ID No. 02401R1041202003
JUDGMENT
1 S. No. of the Case : 434/CB/09 2 Date of commission : 16.11.2002 of the offence 3 Name of the Complainant. : SI Manoj Kumar 4 Name, parentage and : 1) Shammi Khanna address of the accused S/o Late Shri Chotte Lal Khanna persons R/o 276, Kucha San Jogi Ram, Naya Bans, Delhi. (Expired on 12.10.2010) 2) Umesh Goyal S/o Shri Devi Sai Goyal R/o H.No. F20, Gali No. 7, Shastri Park, Delhi 5 . Offence complained or : U/s 63/68A Copyright Act proved 6 Plea of the accused : Not guilty 7 Date of reserving judgment : Not reserved 8 Final order : Acquitted 9 Date of judgment : 07.06.2012 Brief Reasons For Such Decision: 1 Accused persons namely Shammi Khanna S/o Late Shri FIR No. 520/02 P.S Lahori Gate 2
Chotte Lal Khanna and Umesh Goyal S/o Shri Devi Sai Goyal were charge sheeted by P.S Crime Branch for the commission of offences under Section 63/68A Copy Right Act, 1957. However, during the course of trial, accused Shammi Khanna expired and the proceedings against him were abated vide order dated 11.08.2011.
2 The case of the prosecution is that on 16.11.2002, a secret information was received in the office of Crime Branch with regard to the sale of pirated VCDs from M/s Abha Collections, Shop No. 219, Fateh Puri Chowk and M/s Atlanta Stores, Shop No. 220, Fateh Puri Chowk, Delhi whereupon a raiding party consisting of SI Manoj Kumar and H.Ct Rohtash was formed under the supervision of Insp. S.R. Yadav. The said raiding party alongwith Shri Rajesh Kumar i.e Authorized Representative of Motion Picture Association reached Police Post Church Mission and conducted raids at the shops no. 219 & 220, Chowk Fateh Puri, Delhi. During the said raids, a total number of 243 pirated CDs/VCDs were recovered from the Shop No. 219 and 25 VCDs of English Movies, 78 VCDs of Hindi Movies and 118 MP3 Audio CDs were recovered from the Shop No. 220. The recovered CDs did not contain the mandatory details as required under Section 52A of Copyright Act and were identified to be pirated by the AR of Motion Pictures Association. The said recovered VCDs/CDs were put in separate bags bearing serial no. 1 & 2 and were sealed with the seal of MK and taken in possession. FIR was registered. After the completion FIR No. 520/02 P.S Lahori Gate 3 of investigation, the charge sheet was filed. 3 After supply of the copy of charge sheet, separate charges for the commission of offences under Section 63/68A Copy Right Act, 1957 were framed against both the accused persons on 17.02.2004 to which they pleaded not guilty and claimed trial. 4 In support of its case, the prosecution has examined five witnesses.
PW1 H.Ct. Subhram is the duty officer. He has proved the copy of FIR No. 520/05 as Ex. PW1/A and the endorsement made by him on the rukka as Ex. PW1/B. PW2 Ct. Subhash deposed that on 16.11.2002, a rukka was prepared by SI Manoj Kumar and was handed over to him for getting the case registered and that after the registration of FIR, he returned the original rukka and copy of FIR to SI Manoj Kumar.
PW2 H.Ct Rohtash Kumar had joined the investigation on 16.11.2002. He deposed that on the said date, he alongwith SI Sunder Pal, SI Manoj Kumar and Ct. Raj Singh under the supervision of Insp. S.R. Yadav reached at Church Mission Police Post where Shri Rajesh Kumar, Authorized Representatives of the company met them. The public persons were asked to join the raiding party but none agreed. A raid was conducted at Shops No. 219 & 220, Fateh Puri Chowk, Delhi by the raiding party. He deposed that he was directed to wait at Shop No. 220 where the accused Umesh Goyal was present and to keep a watch on him so that he could not remove any articles from the shop. After FIR No. 520/02 P.S Lahori Gate 4 conducting the raid at Shop No. 219, the raiding party reached shop no. 220. On conducting search of shop of the accused Umesh Goyal, 2021 CDs and MP3 were recovered which were examined by the Representative of the company and were found to be pirated. The recovered CDs were kept in a bag and sealed with the seal of MK and taken in possession vide memo Ex. PW2/A. He also proved the personal search memo and arrest memo of accused persons namely Shammi Khanna and Umesh Goyal as Ex. PW2/B to Ex. PW2/E respectively. He deposed that the bag containing the CDs recovered from the shop of accused Umesh Goyal was given serial no. 2 and was deposited with malkhana. He also identified the bag containing the CDs recovered from the shop of accused Umesh Goyal as Ex. P1.
PW3 Umesh Kumar, SDO, Tis Hazari Telephone Exchange produced the computerized record of telephone connection no. 23927222 installed in the name of accused Shammi Khanna at Shop No. 219, Fateh Puri, Delhi and proved the same as Ex. PW3/A. He also proved the copy of telephone bill dated 08.04.2002 as Ex. PW3/B. PW4 SI Sunder Pal is the investigating officer. He has proved the disclosure statement of accused Umesh Goyal as Ex. PW4/A, seizure memo of the photocopy of telephone bill of the shop of the accused Shammi Khanna as Ex. PW4/B and the site plan prepared by him as Ex. PW4/C. The prosecution evidence was closed by the court on FIR No. 520/02 P.S Lahori Gate 5 12.04.2012.
5 The statement of accused Umesh Goyal under Section 313 CrPC was recorded on 07.06.2012 wherein all the incriminating evidence on record and documents were put to him to which his stand was of general denial. He stated that he was falsely implicated in the present case by the police officials and no recovery was effected from him. However, he chose not to lead any evidence in his defence.
6 I have heard the Ld. APP for state and the counsel for accused. I have also perused the record.
7 As per the story of prosecution, on receiving the secret information regarding the sale of pirated CDs from the shops of the accused persons, a raiding party consisting of SI Manoj Kumar and H.Ct Rohtash under the supervision of Insp. S.R. Yadav was constituted and during the raid conducted at the shops of the accused persons, pirated VCDs and MP3 were recovered. Though it is alleged that Shri Rajesh Narang i.e the Authorized Representative of Motion Pictures Association was also joined in the raiding party and the VCDs/CDs allegedly recovered from the shops of the accused persons were identified to be pirated by him,however, the prosecution has failed to examine him in support of its case. Not only this, no material has been brought on record with regard to the owner of the copyright of the films of the recovered Cds/VCDs. It is important to note that SI Manoj Kumar, who is the complainant, has also not been examined by the FIR No. 520/02 P.S Lahori Gate 6 prosecution. Thus, the complaint/rukka dated 16.11.2002 has remained unproved. The only police official, who was the part of the raiding party, examined by the prosecution is PW2 H.Ct. Rohtash Kumar. Though he has proved the seizure memo of the recovered CDs/VCDs but he stated that he did not remember the name of the CDs recovered from the shop of the accused Umesh Goyal due to lapse of time. Apart from this, when the case property was produced in the court, it was found that the seal was broken. Thus, the possibility of tempering with the case property can not be overruled.
In light of the above, it is clear that the prosecution has miserably failed to prove its case against the accused Umesh Goyal. Accused Umesh Goyal is, accordingly, acquitted of the charge for the commission of offences under Section 63/68A of Copy Right Act, 1957. His surety stands discharged.
File be consigned to record room.
Announced in the Open Court (Smita Garg) on 07.06.2012 ACMM02/North/Delhi FIR No. 520/02 P.S Lahori Gate 7 FIR No. 520/02 P.S Lahori Gate 07.06.2012 Pr. APP for state. Accused Shammi Khanna has expired.
Accused Umesh Goyal present on bail with counsel.
Statement of the accused persons U/s 313 CrPC recorded. The accused does not want to lead evidence in his defence.
Final arguments heard.
Vide separate judgment, accused Umesh Goyal has been acquitted of the charge for the commission of offences under Section 63/68A of Copy Right Act, 1957. His surety stands discharged. Documents of the surety, if any, retained on record be released to him against acknowledgment after cancellation of endorsement.
File be consigned to record room.
(Smita Garg) ACMM02/North/Delhi 07.06.2012 FIR No. 520/02 P.S Lahori Gate