Allahabad High Court
Shiv Kumar Bhasin vs State Of U.P. Thru. Prin. Secy. Home ... on 16 May, 2024
Author: Shamim Ahmed
Bench: Shamim Ahmed
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD, LUCKNOW BENCH
?Neutral Citation No. - 2024:AHC-LKO:38156
Court No. - 27
Case :- APPLICATION U/S 482 No. - 9150 of 2022
Applicant :- Shiv Kumar Bhasin
Opposite Party :- State Of U.P. Thru. Prin. Secy. Home Civil Secrett. U.P. Lko. And Another
Counsel for Applicant :- Vaibhav Srivastava
Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.,Ajai Kumar,Vivek Kumar Rai
Hon'ble Shamim Ahmed,J.
Heard learned counsel for the applicant as well as learned A.G.A. for the State and perused the record.
The instant Application under Section 482 Cr.P.C. has been moved by the applicant with a prayer to quash the entire proceedings of Case No. 1228/2022 (State Vs. Rajesh Vaid and others) arising out of impugned charge-sheet No. 587/2021 dated 18.12.2021 filed in Case Crime No. 0068/2021, under Section 406, 409, 420, 120-B I.P.C., Police Station Kotwali Nagar, District Raebareli and cognizance and summoning order dated 20.01.2022 passed by the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Raebareli in Criminal Case No. 1228/2022 (State Vs. Rajesh Vaid and others).
Learned counsel for the applicant submits that according to prosecution story the complainant/opposite party No.2 has lodged the First Information Report with the allegation that the Director of City Life Private Limited having a registered office 99 1A/IB Foreshor Road near Growal Motors, Howada, West bengal, Rajesh Vaidh has taken the space of the complainant for running the City Life Mall at Raebareli and Rajesh Vaidh, Shiv Kumar Bhasin (the applicant) and three other unknown person cheated the complainant by not giving the rent and electricity bill.
Learned counsel for the applicant submits that the F.I.R. is totally false and fabricated and has been lodged in order to pressurize the accused person by converting civil dispute into criminal prosecution and further submits that the role of the applicant is of only a property agent, who mediated between the tenant and the land lord and in support of this argument he has placed reliance of Hon'ble Apex Court judgment in the case Neetu Singh and others Vs. State of U.P. 2022 Law Suit (SC) 322 and submits that no criminal offence is made out if we accept the factual assertion made in the compliant which was registered as the F.I.R. failure to pay rent may have civil consequences, but is not a penal offence under the Indian Penal Code, 1860.
Learned counsel for the applicant submits that the applicant is a reputed person in the society and he has been falsely implicated in the present case. He further submits that the impugned proceedings pending before the learned trial court are totally arbitrary and illegal and the same have been instituted without considering the material evidence available on record. Thus, he submits that entire criminal proceedings initiated against the applicant may be quashed.
Learned counsel for the applicant also prays for permission to appear through counsel before the concerned trial court within a period of three weeks from today and move an application claiming discharge on behalf of the applicant and this Court may direct the trial court to decide the application so moved by the applicant.
Learned A.G.A. has disputed the aforesaid contentions made by learned counsel for the applicant and submits that the Case Law cited by the applicant is totally distinguishable from the present case but he has not opposed the request made by learned counsel for the applicant to move a discharge application before the trial court through counsel.
All the contentions raised by the applicant's counsel relate to disputed questions of fact. The court has also been called upon to adjudge the testimonial worth of prosecution evidence and evaluate the same on the basis of various intricacies of factual details which have been touched upon by learned counsel. The veracity and credibility of material furnished on behalf of the prosecution has been questioned and false implication has been pleaded. In the process of invoking its inherent jurisdiction, this court cannot be persuaded to have a pre trial before the actual trial begins. The submissions made by the learned counsel call for adjudication on pure questions of fact which may be adequately adjudicated upon only by the trial court and while doing so even the submissions made on points of law can also be more appropriately gone into by the trial court in this case.
The quashing of the charge sheet and the entire proceedings can also be done only if it does not disclose any offence or if there is any legal bar which prohibits the proceedings on its basis. The Apex Court decisions in the case of R.P. Kapur Vs. State of Punjab AIR 1960 SC 866, State of Haryana Vs. Bhajan Lal 1992 SCC(Cr.) 426, State of Bihar Vs. P.P. Sharma, 1992 SCC (Cri.) 192 and also in Zandu Pharmaceutical Works Ltd. Vs. Mohd. Saraful Haq and another, (Para-10) 2005 SCC (Cri.) 283 make the position of law in this regard clear.
In the absence of any of the grounds recognized by the Apex Court which might justify the quashing of charge sheet/summoning order/impugned proceedings, the prayer for quashing the same is refused as I do not see any abuse of the courts process either. The trial court has been vested with sufficient powers to discharge the accused even before the stage to frame the charges comes, if for reasons to be recorded it considers the charge to be groundless.
As requested by learned counsel for the applicant, the permission to appear through counsel before the concerned trial court within a period of three weeks from today and move an application claiming discharge on behalf of whom this application under Section 482 Cr.P.C. has been moved, is granted. The concerned trial court shall after hearing the counsel decide the application on merits in accordance with law within a period which shall not exceed a period of two months from today.
With the above observations, this application under Section 482 Cr.P.C. stands disposed of.
Order Date :- 16.5.2024
Arvind
