Jharkhand High Court
Kalipad Mahto vs The State Of Jharkhand on 11 October, 2022
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI
Criminal Appeal (S.J.) No.269 of 2021
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1. Kalipad Mahto
2. Shristidhar Mahto
3. Mithlesh Kumar Mahto @ Manish Mahto .... .... Appellants
Versus
1. The State of Jharkhand
2. Bilashi Devi .... .... Respondents
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CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJESH KUMAR
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For the Appellants : Mr. Sourabh Kr. Das, Adv.
For the State : Mr. Manoj Kr. Mishra, A.P.P.
For the Res. No.2 : Mr. Shashi Kant Thakur, Adv.
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th
07/Dated: 11 October, 2022
1. The defect as pointed out by the registry is, hereby, ignored.
2. The present appeal has been filed under Section 14-A of the Scheduled
Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
3. Heard learned counsel for the appellants and learned counsel for the State
and learned counsel for the victim.
4. The appeal has been filed against the impugned order dated 30.06.2021 in
A.B.P. No.1054 of 2021 passed by the learned Special Judge SC/ST, Ranchi in
connection with SC/ST P.S. Case No.50 of 2020, registered for the offence under
Sections 323/341/504/506/34 of the Indian Penal Code and under Section
3(1)(s)(g) of the SC/ST (POA) Act. The case is presently pending in the court of
the learned Additional Judicial Commissioner-VII-cum-Special Judge SC/ST,
Ranchi.
5. The order dated 21.02.2022 read as under:-
"Counsel for the State has submitted that the victim has already been
informed and in spite of information, nobody appears on behalf of the victim.
It has been submitted by the counsel for the appellants that for the same
cause of action, two FIRs have been lodged, one being Bundu P.S. Case No.44
of 2020 dated 02.07.2020 and another being S.C./.S.T. P.S. Case No.50 of 2020
dated 23.07.2020. Both are for the same incident dated 02.07.2020, alleging
assault while the victim was working on her land.
Thus, there is two FIRs for the same incident, one is under the S.C./S.T.
Act and another is under general Act.
It has been submitted by the counsel for the appellants that the second
FIR is nothing but misuse of the protective provision of the S.C./S.T. Act.
In view of the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case, learned
A.P.P. is directed to produce the status report of both the cases within three
weeks.
Till then, the appellants should not be arrested in connection with
S.C./S.T. P.S. Case No.50 of 2020, pending in the court of learned Addl.
Judicial Commissioner-VII-cum-Special Judge, S.C./S.T., Ranchi."
6. In pursuance of the above order, a report has been submitted by the State
government wherein it has been submitted that in both the cases the police has
submitted the charge-sheet.
7. Innocence has been claimed by the appellants and benefit has been given
for participation in the trial. It has been submitted that admittedly there is land
dispute between the parties and protective provision of the SC/ST (PoA) Act has
been misused.
8. Referring to the judgment of the Hon'ble Apex Court reported in 2020 (10)
Supreme Court Cases 710 in the case of Hitesh Verma versus State of
Uttrakhand & Anr., the prayer has been made that in the facts and circumstances
of the present case bar of Section 18 does not get attracted.
9. On the other hand, learned counsel for the State and the victim have
opposed the prayer for bail and it has been submitted that a member of Scheduled
Caste has been abused and assaulted and as such offence of atrocities is made out
and bar of Section 18 is applicable.
10. Having heard the parties and from perusal of the records, it appears that for
the same incident two FIRs have been lodged. The cause of dispute between the
parties is land. Investigation is complete.
11. Considering the peculiar facts and circumstances of the present case, the
appellants, above named, are directed to surrender in the court below within four
weeks from the date of receipt/ production of the copy of this order and in the
event of their arrest or surrender, they shall be enlarged on bail, on their furnishing
bail bond of Rs.10,000/- (Ten Thousand) each with two sureties of the like amount
each, to the satisfaction of learned Additional Judicial Commissioner-VII-cum-
Special Judge SC/ST, Ranchi in connection with SC/ST P.S. Case No.50 of 2020
on the conditions as laid down under Section 438(2) Cr.P.C. Further, the
appellants will submit self-attested photocopy of their Aadhaar Cards and also
submit their mobile numbers before the learned court below which they will
always keep active and will not change it during pendency of this case without
prior permission of the court.
12. In the result, the instant appeal stands allowed and disposed of.
(Rajesh Kumar, J.)
Amar/-
