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Jharkhand High Court · body

2019 DIGILAW 178 (JHR)

Shankar Subramanium v. State Of Jharkhand

2019-01-17

RAJESH SHANKAR

body2019
JUDGMENT 1. The present petition has been filed for quashing the order dated 31.01.2007 passed by the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Palamu at Daltonganj in Complaint Case No. 42 of 2007, whereby cognizance of the offences under Sections 406/420/120-B of the Indian Penal Code has been taken against the petitioner and summons has been issued against him to face the trial. 2. Heard learned counsel for the parties. 3. It appears that co-accused of the Complaint Case No. 42 of 2007 namely Kaushik Dasgupta and Abhijit Tapadar had also preferred an application before this Court under Section 482 of Cr.P.C. being Cr.M.P. no. 141 of 2008 for quashing the aforesaid complaint case including the order of cognizance dated 31.01.2007. A Bench of this Court vide order dated 09.09.2015 quashed the entire criminal proceeding arising out of Complaint Case no. 42 of 2007 including the order of cognizance dated 31.01.2007 passed by the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Palamau at Daltonganj. The relevant part of the said order is quoted as under: "7. Having heard learned counsels for both the parties and upon going through the record, I find that in the complaint petition, it is stated that the date of occurrence is 15.04.2002 and continuing thereafter. The complaint was filed after inordinate delay on 16.01.2007. It also appears that when the machine broke down, the complainant filed an appropriate case against the accused persons before the District Consumer Forum. After filing the case before the Consumer Forum, the complainant did not comply the directions passed by the Consumer Forum and even failed to appear before the Forum, due to which, his case was dismissed as back as on 09.05.2006 itself. Thereafter, the complaint was filed in the Court below in the year 2007, which itself shows that the complaint was filed very belatedly. 8. In the facts of this case, I am of the considered view that the present case has been filed against the accused persons belatedly, with ulterior motive after the case filed by the complainant was dismissed by the District Consumer Forum. Since, the complaint has been filed after inordinate delay after dismissal of the case by the Consumer Forum, I am of the considered view that the continuance of criminal proceeding against the petitioners shall be the sheer misuse of the process of the Court. 9. Since, the complaint has been filed after inordinate delay after dismissal of the case by the Consumer Forum, I am of the considered view that the continuance of criminal proceeding against the petitioners shall be the sheer misuse of the process of the Court. 9. For the aforementioned reasons, the impugned order dated 31.01.2007 passed by the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Daltonganj, Palamau, in Complaint Case no. 42 of 2007, as also the entire criminal proceeding in the said complaint case, are hereby, quashed. This criminal miscellaneous petition is accordingly, allowed." 4. In the present case also, the petitioner being an accused of Complaint Case No. 42 of 2007 has preferred the present petition for quashing the entire criminal proceeding arising out of Complaint Case No. 42 of 2007 including the order of cognizance dated 31.01.2007. A Bench of this Court has quashed the entire criminal proceeding including the order of cognizance as against the co-accused namely Kaushik Dasgupta and Abhijit Tapadar primarily considering the fact that the date of the alleged occurrence was of 15.04.2002 whereas the present complaint was filed by the opposite party no. 2 after much delay on 16.01.2007. In the meantime, the opposite party no. 2 also filed a complaint against the accused persons before the District Consumer Forum which got dismissed on 09.05.2006 itself for non-compliance of the order of the Forum and also due to non-appearance of the complainant/opposite party no. 2. The aforesaid aspects also cover the case of the present petitioner. 5. In view of the aforesaid circumstance, I am of the opinion that continuance of the present complaint case before the learned court below will be an abuse of the process of court. Thus, the entire criminal proceeding arising out of Complaint Case No. 42 of 2007 including the impugned order dated 31.01.2007 passed by the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Palamu at Daltonganj is hereby quashed as against the petitioner. 6. The present criminal miscellaneous petition is accordingly allowed.