Allahabad High Court
Mohammad Mujahid And Others vs State Of U.P. Thru. Addl. Chief ... on 31 January, 2023
Bench: Shree Prakash Singh
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD, LUCKNOW BENCH
?Court No. - 27
Case :- APPLICATION U/S 482 No. - 908 of 2023
Applicant :- Mohammad Mujahid And Others
Opposite Party :- State Of U.P. Thru. Addl. Chief Secy. Lko. And Another
Counsel for Applicant :- Anil Kumar Pandey
Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.
Hon'ble Shree Prakash Singh,J.
At the very outset, learned counsel for the applicants submits that due to typographical error, Section '406' has also been mentioned after Section '420' in the first para of the prayer clause of the application. He submits that he may be permitted to delete Section 406 from the prayer clause.
Learned counsel for the State has no objection to the contention aforesaid.
Prayer is allowed.
Learned counsel for the applicants is permitted to delete section 406 in the first para of the prayer clause during the course of the day.
Heard learned counsel for the applicants, Sri Aniruddh Kumar Singh-I, learned A.G.A. for the State and perused the material placed on record.
Instant application has been filed with the prayer to set aside the impugned cognizance and summoning order dated 29.6.2022 passed by the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Court No.16 Sultanpur in Criminal Case No.5930 of 2022, State Vs. Hari Shankar Singh and others, so far as it relates to the applicants and criminal proceedings in Case Crime No.881 of 2021 under Sections 419, 420 and 120-B of I.P.C. initiated pursuant thereto on the basis of charge sheet No.01 of 2022 filed on 22.5.2022 by the police in P.S. Kotwali Nagar, District Sultanpur. Further prayer is to stay the further proceedings of the aforementioned case number.
Learned counsel for the applicants submits that the applicants are innocent and has falsely been implicated in the instant matter. Factual matrix of the case is that the land in question was transferred through agreement to sale to someone other by one Hari Shankar Singh who is tenure holder of land. Thereafter, the said land has again been transferred to the present applicants by way of executing a sale deed though the applicants have no knowledge with respect to the fact that this land has already been transferred in favor of another person. Under bona fide belief and after examining the fact that the land is recorded in the name of Hari Shankar Singh, the sale deed has got executed in favor of the applicants. Thus, there is no criminal intent of the applicants to commit cheat or fraud. He next added that the matter is purely of Civil nature as a civil suit has already been filed by the first agreement holder, which is pending consideration before the court below and thus, the instant criminal proceedings is nothing but the same has been instituted to give a color of criminality and to mount pressure over the applicants not to pursue their case before the court below.
Adding his arguments, he has placed reliance on a judgement dated 26.10.2021 passed by the Apex Court in criminal appeal no.1285 of 2021 arising out of SLP (Crl.) No. 9871 of 2019, Mitesh Kumar J. Sha Vs. The State of Karnataka and other, and submits that the case of the applicants is squarely covered with the ratio of the judgment aforesaid. He added that further criminal proceeding would be a futile exercise and there is no fate of trial proceeding and if such trial proceedings are allowed to go on the applicants would be harassed for their no fault, thus, the criminal proceedings against the applicants may be quashed.
On the other hand, learned counsel for the State has very vehemently opposed the contention aforesaid and submits that charge sheet has been filed against the applicants and thereafter, the summoning order has been issued. Thorough investigation has been done in the instant matter and, thereafter, it was found that the applicants were involved in committing the offence as even after, the said land was transferred in the name of another person, the sale deed has been executed in favour of the applicants and, thus, the instant matter is liable to be dismissed.
Matter requires consideration.
Let the notice be issued to the opposite party no.2 returnable at an early date.
Steps be taken within one week.
List/put up this matter in the week commencing 27.2.2023.
In the meantime, State as well as the opposite party no.2 may file their counter affidavits.
Till then, the proceedings of Criminal Case No.5930 of 2022 shall remain stayed.
Order Date :- 31.1.2023/Ram Murti
