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Allahabad High Court · body

2019 DIGILAW 1731 (ALL)

Shyam Lal Rajput v. State of U. P.

2019-07-18

KARUNA NAND BAJPAYEE

body2019
JUDGMENT : KARUNA NAND BAJPAYEE, J. 1. This application under Section 482, Cr.P.C. has been filed seeking the quashing of charge-sheet dated 25.7.2018 as well as the entire proceedings of Case No. 45169 of 2018 (State vs. Shyam Lal and Others) arising out of Case Crime No. 411 of 2018, under Sections 306 and 406, I.P.C. pending in the Court of A.C.M.M.-II, Kanpur Nagar. 2. Heard applicants counsel and learned A.G.A. 3. Entire record has been perused. 4. Submission of learned counsel for the applicants is that the date of incident of the present case when it took place was 29.3.2018 whereas the F.I.R. has been lodged on 10.4.2018 i.e. after 12 days of the incident which is suggestive of manipulation and fabrication on the part of the prosecution. Further, submission is that the alleged suicide notes appear to have been manipulated by the first informant so as to falsely implicate the applicants. It was also submitted that there is no direct evidence on record to prove instigation or abetment made by the applicants on the basis of which it may be said that the death of the deceased directly owes its genesis to or has nexus with any such conscious culpable act committed by accused which may be tantamount to abetment. Therefore, the offence punishable under Section 306, I.P.C. is not made out against the applicants. Certain other contentions have also been raised by the applicants counsel but all of them relate to disputed questions of fact. The court has also been called upon to adjudge the testimonial worth of prosecution evidence and evaluate the same on the basis of various intricacies of factual details which have been touched upon by the learned counsel. The veracity and credibility of material furnished on behalf of the prosecution has been questioned and false implication has been pleaded. Contention is that the charge-sheet and consequent proceedings should therefore be quashed. 5. The law regarding sufficiency of material which may justify the summoning of accused and also the court's decision to proceed against him in a given case is well-settled. The court has to eschew itself from embarking upon a roving enquiry into the last details of the case. It is also not advisable to adjudge whether the case shall ultimately end in conviction or not. The court has to eschew itself from embarking upon a roving enquiry into the last details of the case. It is also not advisable to adjudge whether the case shall ultimately end in conviction or not. Only a prima-facie satisfaction of the court about the existence of sufficient ground to proceed in the matter is required. 6. Through a catena of decisions given by Hon'ble Apex Court this legal aspect has been expatiated upon at length and the law that has evolved over a period of several decades is too well-settled. The cases of Chandra Deo Singh vs. Prokash Chandra Bose, AIR 1963 SC 1430 , Vadilal Panchal vs. Dattatraya Dulaji Ghadigaonker, AIR 1960 SC 1113 and Smt. Nagawwa vs. Veeranna Shivalingappa Konjalgi, 1976 (3) SCC 736 , may be usefully referred to in this regard. 7. The Apex Court decisions given in the case of R.P. Kapur vs. State of Punjab, AIR 1960 SC 866 and in the case of State of Haryana vs. Bhajan Lal, 1992 SCC (Cri.) 426, have also recognised certain categories by way of illustration which may justify the quashing of a complaint or charge-sheet. Some of them are akin to the illustrative examples given in the above referred case of Smt. Nagawwa vs. Veeranna Shivalingappa Konjalgi, (1976) 3 SCC 736 . The cases where the allegations made against the accused or the evidence collected by the Investigating Officer do not constitute any offence or where the allegations are absurd or extremely improbable impossible to believe or where prosecution is legally barred or where criminal proceeding is malicious and mala-fide instituted with ulterior motive of grudge and vengeance alone may be the fit cases for the High Court in which the criminal proceedings may be quashed. Hon'ble Apex Court in Bhajan Lal's case has recognised certain categories in which Section 482 of Cr.P.C. or Article 226 of the Constitution may be successfully invoked. 8. Illumined by the case law referred to herein above, this Court has adverted to the entire record of the case. 9. A perusal of the record shows that on 30.3.2018 the first informant had given a written information at P.S. Kalyanpur, Kanpur Nagar that his son namely Ram Kishore had committed suicide. This information was duly entered into the concerned police station as G.D. No. 30 dated 30.3.2018 at 10:12 hours. 9. A perusal of the record shows that on 30.3.2018 the first informant had given a written information at P.S. Kalyanpur, Kanpur Nagar that his son namely Ram Kishore had committed suicide. This information was duly entered into the concerned police station as G.D. No. 30 dated 30.3.2018 at 10:12 hours. Later on, the opposite party No. 2 had moved an application at the concerned police station on 10.4.2018 with the allegation that while cleaning the room of the deceased Ram Kishore he had got a suicide note of the deceased in which the deceased himself had narrated the reasons for committing suicide. In the said suicide notes the deceased had narrated the details of atrocious trauma inflicted upon him by the present applicants which compelled him to commit suicide. On the aforesaid application of the opposite party no. 2 an F.I.R. being Case Crime No. 411 of 2018 was lodged against the applicants for the offences punishable under Sections 306 and 406, I.P.C. The Investigating Officer investigated the present case and after recording the statement of several witnesses as well as after going through the suicide notes written by the deceased, submitted charge-sheet against the applicants for the offences punishable under Sections 306 and 406, I.P.C. A supplementary-affidavit has been filed by the applicants annexing therewith the copies of suicide notes which the prosecution alleges to have been written by the deceased himself. A perusal of the these suicide notes which runs in several parts and several pages show that the applicants were continuously blackmailing the deceased, due to which he was compelled to commit suicide. One of the suicide notes which appears to be dated 29.3.2018 finds endorsement by the deceased which has been mailed to PMO. Another application which is addressed to the Chief Minister of U.P. wherein it has been written by the deceased that he is going to commit suicide and it was the applicants who were responsible for the same. The detailed allegations as well as complete narration of facts which compellingly drove the deceased to commit suicide has been mentioned in the suicide notes which runs from Page Nos. 28 to 35 of the supplementary affidavit. It has been mentioned in the suicide notes that when the deceased was a student of B. Tech. 1st year the applicant No. 1 asked him to give tuition to her child. 28 to 35 of the supplementary affidavit. It has been mentioned in the suicide notes that when the deceased was a student of B. Tech. 1st year the applicant No. 1 asked him to give tuition to her child. Thereafter, the applicant No. 1 purposely introduced her own sister and had given proposal for marriage with the deceased. Later on the applicants facilitated the deceased to enter into relationship with the sister of the applicant No. 1 namely Pooja. It further transpires from the overall reading of the suicide note that the relationship of the deceased with the aforesaid Pooja was made by the accused a clever contrivance to exploit the deceased emotionally and economically both. By ill-using the relationship as a blackmailing tool the process of squeezing out money from the deceased was engineered by the accused. The accused claimed to be in possession of some objectionable photographs of the deceased with aforesaid Pooja and he having been put under the sting of such blackmail, was asked to cough up more and more money. Even half of the share of some land was also demanded and it also appears from the suicide note that roughly about Rs. 1,84,000 were also extracted out from the deceased over a period of time. It also appears that the deceased having been put under the mortifying fear of infamy, humiliating social exposure and the loss of honour was compelled to give Rs. 3,000 per month to the accused on insistent demand of the accused. But the rapacity of the accused still did not get satiated and they started demanding further more. An amount of Rs. 5000 per month was further pressed for. The suicide note also reveals that the applicant No. 1 was in fact, cousin of the deceased whereas the applicant No. 2 is the wife of the applicant No. 1 and the applicant No. 3 is the father-in-law of the applicant No. 1. The perusal of the suicide note would further reveal that the deceased had been so much mentally tortured by the applicants which compelled the beleaguered deceased to think that he was not having any other choice but to commit suicide and eventually after facing incessant emotional trauma and blackmailing which continued for 2 to 3 years by the applicants, the deceased committed suicide. The suicide note contains some very pathetic description about the mental agonising ordeal through which the deceased underwent and which was caused and inflicted upon him by the calculated overt acts of blackmail by the accused. So far as the delay in lodging of the F.I.R. is concerned, it is clear that as soon as the first informant got the suicide note of the deceased, he at once approached the police station and got registered the present F.I.R. In fact the said delay in lodging the F.I.R. may also be reckoned as a strong circumstance to suggest that the first informant never had any motive to falsely implicate the accused and he reported the facts as they emerged and came to his knowledge in the process of time gradually. The genuineness of the suicide note upon which the prosecution is claiming reliance can only be finally adjudicated upon and decided in the trial. Apparently the suicide note is admissible and relevant under Section 32 of Indian Evidence Act as the same relates to the cause of death and also to the circumstances of the transaction which resulted in his death. 10. So far as the submission of counsel with regard to non-availability of any direct evidence to prove instigation or abetment done by the applicants is concerned, it may be observed that it depends upon the facts of each case and the court has to proceed to see whether the ingredients of charge are actually made out or not. There may be cases where we may find direct evidence of instigation resulting in the commission of suicide. But there may be cases where we may find enough circumstances to show that the mental harassment to which the deceased was subjected was a calculated one and was so sustained and intense that the same was so very likely to drive a man of normal sensitivities to commit suicide. Like any other fact the instigation or the abetment is also provable by circumstantial evidence and it cannot be said either as a matter of rule of law or even of prudence that unless there is direct evidence of instigation available the charge will remain unproved. We find in the present matter that there is a sustained history of mental harassment to which the deceased was subjected and for the perpetration of which the accused were responsible. We find in the present matter that there is a sustained history of mental harassment to which the deceased was subjected and for the perpetration of which the accused were responsible. Whether ultimately the charge shall stand proved or not is quite a different matter and the eventual verdict has to be arrived at through the evaluation of evidence by a full fledged trial. Whether the conviction will be upheld or not is also to be seen at the time of final adjudication on the point of guilt or innocence of the accused. But for the purposes of evaluating the sufficiency of material which may justify the summoning of applicants and call him upon to face the trial this court finds enough material from the suicide note itself which reveals that the deceased was pushed to the wall by the accused and was constantly being kept at tenterhooks and was incessantly being blackmailed and harassed to the extent that he found no other way than to put an end to the journey of his life. It also does not appear to be a case in which it may be said that the act of suicide committed by the deceased was an act of disproportionately abnormal or ultra sensitive person. Normally, we do not come across a suicide note with such profusely elaborate details. The entire emotional catharsis has been vented out in the last words which were penned out by the deceased and which are in the nature of a tell-tale story. How he got trapped in the situation and how the accused were constantly subjecting him to a blackmailing emotional torture, the narration of the suicide notes furnishes all such material and this Court finds that the accused must face trial and be called upon to answer the charge. Submission of charge-sheet in a matter like this cannot be said to be unjustified therefore. This certainly does not appear to be a case in which the venue of judicial probe should be shutdown and foreclosed or where this court should feel inclined to scuttle the prosecution of the accused at the very threshold even before it sets on. Submission of charge-sheet in a matter like this cannot be said to be unjustified therefore. This certainly does not appear to be a case in which the venue of judicial probe should be shutdown and foreclosed or where this court should feel inclined to scuttle the prosecution of the accused at the very threshold even before it sets on. Whether such kind of highly immoral and culpably incriminating conduct of the accused was in ordinary circumstances sufficient to drive a man of normal sensitivities and self respect to commit suicide and thereby amount to instigation and abetment or not, may be adequately adjudicated upon only through a proper trial and finding in that regard must be returned by the trial court which possesses primary jurisdiction to pronounce judicially on these aspects of the case. 11. The submissions made by the applicants learned counsel call for adjudication on pure questions of fact which may be adequately adjudicated upon only by the trial Court and while doing so even the submissions made on points of law can also be more appropriately gone into by the trial court in this case. This court does not deem it proper and therefore, cannot be persuaded to have a pre-trial before the actual trial begins. A more elaborate discussion of various facts and circumstances, as they emerge from the allegations made against the accused, is being purposely avoided by the court for the reason, lest the same might cause any prejudice to either side during trial. But it shall suffice to observe that the perusal of the F.I.R. and the material collected by the Investigating Officer and specially the suicide note of the deceased on the basis of which the charge-sheet has been submitted makes out a prima-facie case against the accused at this stage and there appear to be sufficient ground for proceeding against the accused. I do not find any justification to quash the charge-sheet or the proceedings against the applicants arising out of them as the case does not fall in any of the categories recognised by the Apex Court which may justify their quashing. 12. The prayer for quashing the same is refused as I do not see any abuse of the court's process either. 13. The application therefore, stands dismissed.