Allahabad High Court
Matru And 4 Others vs State Of Up And Another on 20 August, 2019
Author: Rajiv Gupta
Bench: Rajiv Gupta
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD ?Court No. - 71 Case :- CRIMINAL APPEAL No. - 4373 of 2019 Appellant :- Matru And 4 Others Respondent :- State Of Up And Another Counsel for Appellant :- Satish Kumar Shukla Counsel for Respondent :- G.A.,Chakshuvendra Pachauri Hon'ble Rajiv Gupta,J.
Heard learned counsel for the appellants, Sri Chakshuvendra Pachauri, learned counsel for the opposite party no. 2, learned AGA for the State and perused the record.
The present criminal appeal has been filed against the order dated 2.4.2019 passed by Addl. Sessions Judge, Court No. 2, Kasganj in S.T. No. 218 of 2019 (State Vs. Matru and others) arising out of Case Crime No. 0043 of 2019, under Sections 147, 148, 323, 504, 506 IPC and 3(1)(r)(s) of of SC/ST Act, P.S. Kasganj, District- Kasganj as well as Charge Sheet No. 86 of 2019 dated 18.3.2019.
As per the allegations made in the first information report, it is alleged that on 11.1.2019 the appellants abused the victims with the name of their caste with an intention to humiliate and intimidate them and also assaulted the victims Kuldeep and Ramesh Kumar, due to which they suffered injuries on their person and have been medically examined.
Learned counsel for the appellants has submitted that from the perusal of the allegations made in the FIR and the material collected during the course of investigation, no offence is disclosed against the appellants and the present prosecution has been instituted with a malafide intention for the purposes of harassment. He has pointed out certain documents and statements in support of his contention.
Per contra, learned AGA as well as learned counsel for the appellant have submitted that from the perusal of the allegations made in the FIR and the material collected during the course of investigation, prima facie offence is clearly made out against the appellants and as such, entire proceedings cannot be quashed.
Moreover, all the submissions made at the bar relates to the disputed question of fact, which cannot be adjudicated upon by this Court. At this stage, only prima facie case is to be seen in the light of the law laid down by the Hon'ble Apex Court in the cases of R.P. Kapur Vs. State of Punjab, AIR 1960 SC 866, State of Haryana Vs. Bhajan Lal, 1992 SCC (Cri.) 426, State of Bihar Vs. P.P. Sharma, 1992 SCC (Cri.) 192 and lastly Zandu Pharmaceutical Works Ltd. Vs. Mohd. Saraful Haq and another, (Para-10) 2005 SCC (Cri.) 283. The disputed defence of the accused cannot be considered at this stage.
The prayer for quashing the impugned order as well as charge sheet is therefore refused.
However, it is directed that if the appellants appear/surrender before the court below and apply for bail, their prayer for bail shall be considered and decided as expeditiously as possible after giving opportunity of hearing to both the parties.
With the aforesaid observations, this appeal is finally disposed of.
Order Date :- 20.8.2019 KU