Karnataka High Court
Ramachandra S/O. Basappa Bhovi vs The State Of Karnataka on 2 June, 2017
Equivalent citations: 2017 (3) AKR 357, 2017 (4) KCCR SN 530 (KAR)
Author: R.B Budihal
Bench: R.B Budihal
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA
DHARWAD BENCH
Dated this the 2nd day of June 2017
Before
THE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE BUDIHAL R.B.
Criminal Petition No.11591/2013
Between:
Sri Ramachandra
S/o Basappa Bhovi
Age: 49 Years
R/o Gangavathi
District Koppal
Working as Artisan in NEKRTC
Gangavathi Depot,
District Koppal
... Petitioner
(By Sri J S Shetty, Advocate)
And
The State of Karnataka
By its Hunugund Police Station
Authorities
R/by its Public Prosecutor
High Court of Karnataka
Dharwad
... Respondent
(By Sri C.Jagadish, Spl.P.P.)
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This criminal petition is filed u/s 482 of Cr.P.C.
seeking that the entire proceedings of the Special
Case No.18/2012, pending on the file of the Principal
District and Session Judge, Bagalkot, may kindly be
quashed by allowing this criminal petition with cost
through out.
This petition coming on for final hearing, having
been heard and reserved for orders on 17.04.2017,
this day the Court, made the following:
ORDER
This is the petition filed by petitioner/accused under Section 482 of the Cr.P.C., praying the Court to quash the proceedings of the Special Case No.18/2012 pending on the file of Principal District and Sessions Judge, Bagalkot.
2. Brief facts as averred by the petitioner in the petition that, petitioner belonging to Bhovi Community, which has been recognized as schedule caste in the State of Karnataka, as promulgated by the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes Act, 1976, in Entry No.23 issued by the Ministry of Law, Justice and Company Affairs in exercise of its power under Article 341 of the Constitution of India. In all the school records, the caste of the petitioner has been :3: specifically mentioned that he belongs to Bhovi caste. Petitioner obtained the Caste Certificate from the Tahsildar and later he has joined the duty as the Helper in KSRTC. The 2nd respondent filed case against the petitioner before Hungund Police Station for the alleged offences punishable under Sections 196, 198 and 420 of the I.P.C. alleging that even though the petitioner is belonging to Bhoyi, he has obtained the certificate from the Tahsildar on 02.04.1986 stating that he belongs to Bhovi and on the basis of the said certificate he has obtained a job in the KSRTC and thereby cheated the Government and as such the petitioner has committed the offences punishable under Sections 196, 198 and 420 of I.P.C. Subsequently, the D.S.P., Bagalkot submitted charge sheet against the petitioner for the offences punishable under Sections 196, 198, 420 of I.P.C. and Section 3 I IX of Scheduled Caste/ Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The petitioner challenged the initiation of the criminal proceedings on the grounds as mentioned in the criminal petition.
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3. Heard the arguments of learned counsel appearing for the petitioner/accused and also the learned Special Public Prosecutor for the respondent/State.
4. Counsel for the petitioner made the submission that he belongs to Bhovi Community and the name of the casts as Bhoyi are synonyms and one and the same. He also made the submission that the Caste Certificate issued by the Tahsildar is not at all cancelled and still it is valid and hence there is no offence committed by the petitioner/ accused. The learned counsel in support of his argument relied upon the following decisions.
i. Judgment dated 5th day of March, 2003 passed by the Division Bench of the High Court of Karnataka in Writ Appeal No.7536/2001 C/w Writ Appeal No.7546-61/2001;
ii. Order dated 15th day of December, 2000 passed by the Karnataka High Court in W.P.No.739/1998 (GM);
iii. Order dated 27th day of September, 1998 passed by the High Court of Karnataka in W.P.No.17346/1987;
:5:iv. Order dated 23rd day of February, 2000 passed by the High Court of Karnataka in W.P.No.27777/1995;
v. Order dated 22nd day of August 2002 passed by the High Court of Karnataka in W.P.No.36821/2000 (GM); and vi. Order dated 25th day of February 2012 passed by the High Court of Karnataka in Election Petition No.3/2008.
5. Per contra, the learned Special Public Prosecutor during the course of his arguments made the submission that looking to the prosecution material the petitioner obtained caste certificate by furnishing false information to the Tahsildar though he is not belonging to Bhovi caste. Hence, he submitted that by furnishing such false information to the Tahsildar the petitioner/accused cheated the Government and thereby committed the alleged offences. Hence, learned Special Public Prosecutor submitted that after investigation the police have filed the charge sheet against the petitioner herein. Therefore, :6: enquiry by conducting the trial as against the petitioner is necessary and the investigation material clearly makes out prima facie case against the petitioner/accused and looking to the materials, it cannot be said that there is no prima facie case against the petitioner or it is only an abuse of process of the Court. Hence, he submitted that proceedings cannot be quashed invoking Section 482 of Cr.P.C. In support of his contention also the learned Special Public Prosecutor relied upon the following decisions.
i. Order passed in Criminal Petition
No.5344/2008 disposed of on
01.07.2014 in the case of
Cheluvaraju V/s the State and
another;
ii. I.L.R. 2012 KAR 4384 in the case of
Smt.Geethanjali V/s the Canara
Bank, Bangalore and others;
iii. Order passed by the Hon'ble
Supreme Court in the case of State
of Karnataka V/s Rajanna rendered
in Criminal Appeal No.270 of 1991
decided on 23.08.1994;
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iv. 2001(1) SCC Page No.4, Para 15 in
the case of State of Maharashtra V/s
Milind and others;
6. I have perused the grounds urged in the petition, the entire charge sheet material produced along with petition, the decisions relied upon by both the sides, which are referred above and also considered the submissions made by both the learned counsel at the Bar, which is also referred above.
7. Perusing the materials the case of the prosecution as against the petitioner herein is that though the petitioner belongs to Boya Community, which comes under the other backward classes, but by giving false information that he belongs to Hindu Bhovi Community, obtained the Caste Certificate from the Tahsildar that he belongs to scheduled caste community and thereby he committed fraud and cheated the Tahsildar as well as the Government, so also he got appointment in the KSRTC thereby he deprived the opportunity of the real scheduled :8: caste community people to get the employment and thereby he has committed the alleged offences under Sections 196, 198 and 420 of I.P.C. and also under Section 3(I) (IX) of the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
8. Perusing the charge sheet material which were collected during investigation at the time of investigation, the Investigation Officer collected the certificates from the school where petitioner was studying. In this regard, the document i.e. the letter dated 16.01.2001 addressed by Police Inspector, Civil Rights Cell, Raichur to the Police Inspector, Civil Rights Enforcement Cell, Gulbarga. Looking to the said document, it clearly goes to show that in the schools and colleges the name of the caste of the petitioner has been entered as Hindu Bhovi Community. The said document also goes to show that statement of the elders of the family of the petitioner were also recorded by the Investigation Officer, wherein also they have stated in their statements that they belongs to Bhovi community. :9: The materials goes to show that the Tahsildar, Hungund issued the Caste Certificate to the petitioner herein dated 02.04.1986 wherein it is also mentioned that Ramachandra son of Basappa Bhovi, resident of Ilkal belongs to Hindu Bhovi caste, which is recognized as schedule caste. From 02.04.1986 i.e. date of issuance of the caste certificate by the Tahsildar, Hungund till 2001 when the enquiry against the petitioner was initiated i.e. nearly for a period of 15 years the caste certificate was not at all cancelled by the Tahsildar, who issued the same. Apart from that the materials goes to show that the petitioner was admitted to the primary school and in the year 1969 to 1972 he studied from 1st standard to 4th standard. So his caste that he belongs to Hindu Bhovi community was entered in the primary school registers in the year 1969 itself and it was continued till he completed his education in the primary school and in the high school. The enquiry which was initiated in 2001 so from 1969 till 2001 the caste of the present petitioner continued in the records as Hindu Bhovi. As I have already observed above that according to this : 10 : document even the statement of the family members also goes to show that he belongs to Hindu Bhovi community. But however at the end of the said document, it is mentioned that the persons in the village of petitioner when enquired they told that petitioner is not belonging to Bhovi community and he belongs to Ganga Matasta (Besta community). I have perused the documents and the extract of the school registers pertaining to the petitioner, wherein the caste of the petitioner is mentioned as Hindu Bhovi. Even in the Transfer Certificate of the petitioner also it is mentioned as Bhovi.
9. I have also perused the finding given in the disciplinary enquiry proceedings No.974/2006. Looking to this document, it is dated 31.08.2007. One Laxminarayan Bhat who was the Assistant Law Officer in the Eastern Karnataka Road Transport Corporation, Koppal Division, was the Enquiry Officer and he submitted his report holding that the corporation has failed to prove the : 11 : charges as against the present petitioner which was also part of the charge sheet material.
10. It is no doubt true in the year 2009 the Tahsildar's office issued the order stating that the Caste Certificate of Ramachandra son of Basappa Bhovi belongs to Bhovi community has been cancelled. So from the date of issuance of the caste certificate i.e. in the year 1986 till it was cancelled on 06.03.2009, it is in operation nearly for a period of 23 years. I have also perused the document i.e. dated 25.01.2006. This is from District Level Caste Verification Committee, Bagalkot wherein also it is mentioned in the order that Ramachandra son of Basappa Bhovi has not at all belongs to Bhovi community and he belongs to Boya community. Therefore, looking to these materials placed on record, it is only after the long lapse of time nearly for a period of 25 years, the prosecution come up with the story that the petitioner belongs to Boya community and he did not belongs to Hindu Bhovi community. When the public documents clearly goes to : 12 : show that he belongs to Hindu Bhovi community and said documents were from the year 1969 at which time the present petitioner never intended that he has to give such a false particulars regarding his caste in order to get the job, which is reserved for the schedule caste community people by committing fraud on the Government as well as the candidates belonging to scheduled caste community. Apart from looking to the Division Bench decision of the Hon'ble High Court of Karnataka dated 5th day of March 2013, it clearly mentioned in the said judgment after elaborate discussion that Hon'ble Supreme Court has already considered what is meant by Bhovi in the presidential order and the Hon'ble Supreme Court considered the said aspect in the case of Basalingappa case and has held that Bhovi caste will include Waddar, which was also known as Boyi and Bovi and it is also observed by the Division Bench in the said judgment that, "that in view, we do not think it is open to the appellants to contend that the caste described as Bovi could not have : 13 : been treated as scheduled caste." In Para No.7 of the said judgment, the Division Bench also observed as under:-
"Under the circumstances the
direction issued by the learned Single
Judge that respondents are directed to
treat the petitioners as belonging to
Bhovi community and belonging to
scheduled caste irrespective of the caste mentioned in their service as Bovi, Boyi, Bhoi and Caste Verification Committee has no jurisdiction to enquire into the matter, needs no interference. The learned Single Judge by an elaborate order has given the above direction."
11. Therefore, the said decision of the Division Bench is aptly made applicable to the case on hand. I have also perused the decisions relied upon by learned Special Public Prosecutor appearing for the respondent/state which are referred above. But in view of the factual matrix in this case which were discussed above, the decisions relied upon by the learned Special Public Prosecutor and as in the public offices has been shown as Hindu Bhovi, which is : 14 : acted upon continuously nearly for a period of 25 years and even it is held in the departmental enquiry also that the corporation failed to establish the charges, I am of the opinion that no purpose will be served by continuing the criminal proceedings as against the present petitioner. It is only the abuse of process of the Court and hence the petition is allowed and the criminal proceedings which are pending in Special Case No.18/2012 pending on the file of Principal District and Sessions Judge, Bagalkot are hereby quashed.
Sd/-
JUDGE CLK