Allahabad High Court
Smt. Lalita Devi vs State Of U.P. Thru. Secy. Home ... on 22 May, 2023
Bench: Ajai Kumar Srivastava-I
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD, LUCKNOW BENCH
?Neutral Citation No. - 2023:AHC-LKO:35557
Court No. - 15
Case :- APPLICATION U/S 482 No. - 4285 of 2023
Applicant :- Smt. Lalita Devi
Opposite Party :- State Of U.P. Thru. Secy. Home Deptt. Lko.
Counsel for Applicant :- Kaushal Kishore Tewari
Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.
Hon'ble Ajai Kumar Srivastava-I,J.
1. Heard Sri Kaushal Kishore Tewari, learned counsel for the applicant, Sri Anurag Verma, learned A.G.A for the State and perused the entire record.
2. This application under Section 482 Cr.P.C. has been filed by the applicant for quashing the charge sheet No.1 dated 28.11.2020 filed against the applicant before the learned Special Judge Gangsters Act/ Additional Sessions Judge, Court No.13, Lakhimpur Kheri vide Criminal Case No.521 of 2021 (State vs. Ram Niwas Kanodiya and others) arising out of Case Crime No.317 of 2019 under Sections 2/3 U.P. Gangsters Act, Police Station Dhaurahra, District Lakhimpur Kheri.
3. Learned counsel for the applicant has submitted that accused/ applicant is innocent, who has been falsely implicated in this case due to some ulterior reason.
4. His further submission is that the content of the first information report does not disclose any ingredients, which are essential to constitute offence under Sections 2/3 U.P. Gangsters Act. He has also submitted that even during investigation, no credible evidence could be collected against the present accused/ applicant. Despite, this fact, a charge sheet came to be laid mechanically against the applicant.
5. Learned counsel for the applicant, on the basis of aforesaid submissions, has submitted that the present proceeding is nothing but an abuse of process of this Court and a malicious prosecution too, which deserves to be quashed.
6. Per contra, learned A.G.A. for the State has vehemently submitted that the law of quashing has been fairly settled in the celebrated judgment rendered by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in State of Haryana vs. Bhajan Lal reported in 1992 Supp (1) SCC 335 and R.P. Kapur Vs. State of Punjab AIR 1960 SC 866.
7. His further submission is that in view of law laid down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Ramveer Upadhyay vs. State of U.P. reported in AIR 2022 SC 2044 and Rathish Babu Unnikrishnan vs. State (NCT of Delhi) reported in 2022 SCC OnLine SC 513, truthfulness or otherwise of the prosecution version or defence version cannot be looked into at this stage. At such an early stage to rush of this Court for quashing itself is an abuse of process of this Court as the trial has not progressed substantially.
8. Thus, in view of aforesaid, learned A.G.A. has submitted that the present application under Section 482 Cr.P.C. is devoid of merit and deserves to be dismissed.
9. Having heard the learned counsel for the applicant, learned A.G.A. for the State and upon perusal of record including the first information report and the charge sheet laid against the present applicant, this Court is of considered view that in view of law laid down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Bhajan Lal's case (supra), R.P. Kapur's case (supra), Ramveer Upadhyay's case (supra) and Rathish Babu Unnikrishnan's case (supra), no ground for quashing the instant proceeding exists.
10. Accordingly, the prayer for quashing the impugned charge sheet is refused as this Court does not find any illegality, impropriety and incorrectness in the proceedings under challenge. There is no abuse of court's process either.
11. However, it is needless to mention that if the applicant applies for grant of bail, the learned trial court concerned shall consider and decide the same expeditiously, in accordance with law laid down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Satender Kumar Antill vs. Central Bureau of Investigation and others reported in MANU/SC/1024/2021, Satender Kumar Antill vs. Central Bureau of Investigation and another reported in 2022 SCC OnLine SC 825 and Satender Kumar Antil vs. Central Bureau of Investigation and anotherreported in 2023 LiveLaw (SC) 233 having regard to the fact that the accused/ applicant is a woman and also having regard to the nature of cases, on the basis of which, provision of Sections 2/3 U.P. Gangsters Act have been invoked.
12. With the aforesaid observations, the instant application is finally disposed of.
(Ajai Kumar Srivastava-I, J.)
Order Date :- 22.5.2023
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