Gauhati High Court
Page No.# 1/4 vs The State Of Assam And Anr on 21 November, 2022
Author: Manish Choudhury
Bench: Manish Choudhury
Page No.# 1/4
GAHC010225672022
THE GAUHATI HIGH COURT
(HIGH COURT OF ASSAM, NAGALAND, MIZORAM AND ARUNACHAL PRADESH)
Case No. : Crl.Pet./1145/2022
DHANJIT DEKA AND ANR
S/O DHARMESWAR DEKA
R/O VILL- JAGARA (DAKHIN SUPA)
P.S. BELSOR, DIST. NALBARI, ASSAM
781304
2: PINKU DEKA
S/O HARKANATA DEKA
R/O VILL- JAGARA (DAKHIN SUPA)
P.S. BELSOR
DIST. NALBARI
ASSAM
PIN- 78130
VERSUS
THE STATE OF ASSAM AND ANR
REP. BY THE PP, ASSAM
2:CHITRAMAL DEKA
S/O CHANDRAKANTA DEKA
R/O VILL- JAGARA (DAKHIN SUPA)
P.S. BELSOR
DIST. NALBARI
ASSAM
PIN-78130
Advocate for the Petitioner : MR. P K ROYCHOUDHURY
Advocate for the Respondent : PP, ASSAM
Page No.# 2/4
BEFORE
HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE MANISH CHOUDHURY
ORDER
21.11.2022 Heard Mr. P.K. Roychoudhury, learned counsel for the accused-petitioners and Mr. B. Sarma, learned Additional Public Prosecutor, Assam for the respondent no. 1.
2. The instant criminal petition under Section 482, Code of Criminal Procedure [CrPC] read with Section 483, CrPC, 1973 has been preferred by the petitioners for setting aside and quashing of the proceedings of P.R.C. Case no. 315/2022, presently pending before the Court of learned Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Nalbari.
3. The projected case of the petitioners, in brief, is as follows :-
3.1. At around 09-00 p.m. on 13.10.2021, due to some misunderstanding, a fight took place between the petitioners' side and the informant-respondent no. 2's side and as a result, the members from both the sides sustained simple injuries. In respect of the said incident of fighting, the petitioner no. 1 as the informant, lodged a First Information Report [FIR] before the Officer In-Charge, Belsor Police Station on 15.10.2021 against one Sri Kamal Deka and other members of the rival group. The said FIR has been registered as Belsor Police Station Case no. 408/2021 for offences under Sections 325/323/294/379/427/506/34, Indian Penal Code [IPC]. On the other hand, the respondent no. 2 as an informant, in respect of the same incident, had instituted another FIR against the members of the petitioners' side and the said FIR has been registered as Belsor Police Station Case no. 410/2021 [P.R.C. Case no.
300/2022] for offences under Sections 341/323/294/34, IPC.
3.2. It is the case of the petitioners that after institution of the two FIRs by the rival sides, a village meeting took place where the members from both the sides participated. In the said meeting, the dispute between both sides had been settled amicably. A decision was arrived at not to pursue the FIRs in future.
3.3. In the month of February, the petitioners' side and the respondent no. 2's side received a notice for attending the National Lok Adalat whereby both the sides were put on notice to appear in the Natinal Lok Adalat, scheduled to be held on 12.03.2022 in the Court of learned Page No.# 3/4 Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Nalbari. Accordingly, the members of both the sides appeared before the learned Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Nalbari in the sitting of the National Lok Adalat, held on 12.03.2022.
3.4. In the National Lok Adalat, the learned Court taking note of the fact that the dispute between the parties had been settled amicably, disposed of the case, P.R.C Case no. 300/2022, arising out of Belsor Police Station Case no. 410/2021, by way of compromise.
3.5. In the meantime, the Investigating Officer [I.O.], after completing the investigation in connection with Belsor Police Station Case no. 408/2021 [P.R.C. Case no. 315/2022], had submitted a charge sheet under Section 173[2], CrPC finding a prima facie case against the petitioners for commission of offences under Sections 341/323/294/34, IPC.
3.6. On charge sheet being laid, the Court of learned Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Nalbari ['the trial court', for short] issued process to the petitioners herein to appear before the learned trial court on 04.06.2022 to stand the trial in connection with P.R.C. Case no. 315/2022.
3.7. As the dispute had already been settled amicably between the parties, the petitioners and the respondent no. 2, through their learned engaged counsel, appeared before the learned trial court on 04.06.2022 and submitted a joint petition being Petition no. 2254, stating that the parties wanted to settle the matter in connection with P.R.C. Case no. 315/2022 amicably and prayed before the learned trial court to dispose of the same accordingly.
4. Mr. Roychoudhury, learned counsel for the petitioners has submitted that the learned trial court into consideration, the petition, Petition no. 2254 filed by the respondent no. 2 in P.R.C. Case no. 315/2022 but it had declined the prayer made by the parties on the ground that the offence under Section 294, IPC amongst the offences for which the charge sheet has already been submitted, is not compoundable in nature. The learned trial court after rejecting the petition jointly filed by the petitioners and the respondent no. 2, had directed appearance of the petitioners on the subsequent dates and vide an order dated 04.07.2022, issued bailable warrant of arrest against them.
5. Issue notice. The notice is made returnable on 21.12.2022.
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6. As Mr. Sarma, learned Additional Public Prosecutor, Assam has appeared and accepted notice on behalf of the respondent no. 1, no formal notice need to be issued to the said respondent. Mr. Roychoudhury shall furnish an extra copy of the petition along with the annexures, to Mr. Sarma within 3 [three] working days.
7. The petitioners shall take steps for service of notice upon the respondent no. 2 by registered post with A/D within 4 [four] working days from today.
8. Having regard to fact situation obtaining in the case and the projection made on behalf of the petitioners to the effect that the matter has been settled amicably, it is provided that till the returnable date, further proceeding in connection with P.R.C. Case no. 315/2022, presently pending before the Court of learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Nalbari shall remain suspended.
JUDGE Comparing Assistant