Allahabad High Court
Dr. Anand Kumar Singh And 2 Ors vs State Of U.P. And Another on 17 March, 2021
Bench: Pankaj Bhatia
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD
?Court No. - 77
Case :- APPLICATION U/S 482 No. - 45487 of 2014
Applicant :- Dr. Anand Kumar Singh And 2 Ors
Opposite Party :- State of U.P. and Another
Counsel for Applicant :- K.S. Tiwari,Vivek Tiwari
Counsel for Opposite Party :- Govt. Advocate,Chandra Shekhar,Ram Surat Saroj
Hon'ble Pankaj Bhatia,J.
Heard counsel for the applicants and learned A.G.A. for the State.
The present application has been filed seeking quashing of the order dated 22.9.2014 passed by the Special Judge (SC/ST Act), Varanasi in S.T. No. 557 of 2013 (State Vs. Anand Singh and others), under Section 323 IPC and Section 3(1) (x) of SC/ST Act, P.S. Sigra, District Varanasi pending in the Court of Special Judge, SC/ST Act, Varanasi.
The contention of the counsel for the applicants is that from the plain reading of the FIR in question, no offence can be said to be made out either under Section 323 IPC or Section 3(1) (x) of SC/ST Act as its stood prior to its amendment. He places reliance upon the judgment of Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Hitesh Verma Vs. State of Uttrakhand and another; AIR 2020 SC 5584 as well as the judgment of the Supreme Court in the case of Asmathunnisa Vs. State of Andhra Pradesh and another, 2011 LawSuit (SC) 278.
I have perused the FIR. The FIR in question discloses that on 16.5.2007 the accused entered into the office of the informant and hit him and used caste related words. There is no specific mention of any caste related words in the FIR. There is no specific mention that the accused were of general category and had done the offence in question knowing that the informant was of SC/ST category. I have perused the statement of the witnesses as contained in the charge-sheet, which are also silent on the use of specific caste related words or the fact that accused were aware that the informant was of a schedule caste/schedule tribe and have committed the offence knowing that fact.
Counsel for the applicants places before me the copy of the application form, which the informant had filled for seeking appointment, which does not disclose any caste of the informant, in fact, in the records of the University also the caste of the informant is not present, as is clear from the perusal of the certificate issued by the Vice Chancellor, which is on record as Annexure.
For attracting and charging a person under Section 3(1) (x) of SC/ST Act, as it stood prior to its amendment, it is essential that the ingredients of the offence to the effect that a person has intentionally insulted or intimidated with an intent to humiliate a member of schedule caste or schedule tribe in any place within public view should be present, so as to charge or try a person under the said provisions. On perusal of the entire documents, none of the ingredients are present.
In view of the fact that the ingredients for attracting the offence are absent, the order dated 22.9.2014 passed by the Special Judge (SC/ST Act), Varanasi in S.T. No. 557 of 2013 (State Vs. Anand Singh and others), under Section 323 IPC and Section 3(1) (x) of SC/ST Act, P.S. Sigra, District Varanasi pending in the Court of Special Judge, SC/ST Act, Varanasi are quashed.
The application is allowed.
Order Date :- 17.3.2021
S. Rahman
