The High Court of Punjab and Haryana quashed proceedings against a reporter accused of rash driving and passing casteist remarks and held that it was strange that the petitioner was arrested despite there being no allegations and that the continuation of proceedings would amount to an abuse of process of law.
Brief Facts:
The present petition was filed under Section 482 CrPC seeking quashing of FIR after the petitioner, a reporter was accused under Sections 279, 337, 427 IPC and Section 3(x) and 4 of the Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities), Act, 1989, Sections 3(x) and 4 and Section 3(s) of the SC/ST Act.
Contentions of the Respondent:
The case of the prosecution was based on the statement made by one Gagan who stated to belong to the SC/ST community. It was alleged that a car driven by the co-accused in which the petitioner was sitting had rammed Gagan due to which she suffered injuries and further the co-accused had hurled casteist remarks against him.
Observations of the court:
The court after hearing both the parties stated that it remained undisputed that the petitioner was neither a driver of the vehicle nor had hurled any abuses and was merely present in the vehicle along with the co-accused and had no role to play and even if the entire allegations as per the contents of the FIR are accepted to be true on its face value, still no case is made out against the petitioner. Further, the court stated that the petitioner did not hurl any abuses, which according to the prosecution made out an offence under Section 3(1)(r) and 3(1)(s) of the Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities), Act, 1989 and it also remained undisputed that the petitioner was not driving the vehicle.
The court stated that it was strange that despite there being no allegation or involvement of the petitioner, he was arraigned as an accused, and was also arrested, though as per the petitioner’s counsel, he got bail after custody of 4 days and considering the peculiar facts and circumstances, the present case is a fit case where the continuation of criminal proceedings shall amount to an abuse of the process of law.
The decision of the Court:
The court invoked its inherent jurisdiction under section 482 CrPC and quashed the FIR and all subsequent proceedings.
Case Title: Mritunjay Kumar vs State of Punjab and anr.
Coram: Hon’ble Mr. Justice Anoop Chitkara
Case No.: CRM-M-47743-2023 (O&M)
Advocate for the Petitioner: Mr. R.S Rai, Mr. Chetan Mittal, Mr. Pawan Narang and Mr. Mayank Aggarwal
Advocate for the Respondent: Mr. Gaurav Garg Duriwala and Mr. P.S Ahluwalia
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