Telangana High Court
Veeramaneni Jithendher vs The State Of Telangana on 8 April, 2024
THE HONOURABLE SMT. JUSTICE K. SUJANA
CRIMINAL PETITION No.11248 of 2023
ORDER:
This Criminal Petition is filed under Section 482 of the
Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (for short 'Cr.P.C.') to quash
the proceedings against the petitioners/accused Nos.1 and 2
in C.C.No.2477 of 2023, on the file of the learned Judicial
Magistrate of First Class, Bhainsa, registered for the offences
punishable under Sections 273, 336 read with 34 of Indian
Penal Code, 1860 (for short 'the IPC') and Section 59 (iii) of the
Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 (for short 'the Act').
2. Brief facts of the case are that respondent No.2/de facto
complainant lodged a complaint before the Police, Basara
Police Station, Nirmal District against the petitioners stating
that petitioner No.1 is the contractor of S.S. Caterings Mess
and petitioner No.2 is the Mess In-charge of Basar IIIT i.e.,
Rajeev Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies, Basar
(for short 'RGUKT'). On 15.07.2022, the IIIT Basar E-1 and E-
2 students ate egg fried rice in lunch time at RGUKT S.S.
Catering Mess. On the same day at 03:30 p.m., when around
36 students of E-1 and E-2 were suffered from stomach ache,
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head ache and vomits, some students were shifted to IIIT
Basar Hospital and some students were referred to Nizamabad
Hospital for treatment. Thereafter, he came to know that the
petitioners negligently prepared the quality less food and
supplied to the students. Basing on the said complaint, Police
registered a case in Crime No.79 of 2022 and after completion
of investigation, they filed charge sheet before the Judicial
Magistrate of First Class, Bhainsa.
3. Heard Sri K. Upendar Reddy, learned counsel appearing
on behalf of the petitioners as well as Sri S. Ganesh, learned
counsel appearing on behalf of respondent No.1-State.
Though notice served upon respondent No.2, none appeared
on his behalf.
4. Learned counsel for the petitioners submitted that on
the date of incident in the menu, there is no egg fried rice, but
only boiled egg is there. In the contract agreement also there
is no menu of egg fried rice, but some students, who
participated in dharna and agitation, forced the petitioners to
prepare egg fried rice and taken lunch at 03:30 p.m., instead
of 12:30 p.m., to 02:30 p.m. The students, who have vomited,
had taken some snakes in the canteen and thereafter, they
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had taken egg fried rice, which was forcibly got prepared after
lunch timings due to which the students, who had taken
lunch in the odd timings, got vomited.
5. Learned counsel for the petitioners further submitted
that half of the seized food samples and vomit samples were
sent to Forensic Science Laboratory, Hyderabad for analysis
and remaining half of the seized food and vomit samples were
sent to RIMS, Adilabad for micro biology culture and
sensitivity report. According to the FSL, Hyderabad, there is
no poisonous substance found in the samples. The RIMS,
Adilabad opined that, the isolated organism is Klebsiella
Pneumonia. No toxin producing bacteria is isolated. Learned
counsel further submitted that Klebsiella Pneumonia can be
associated with diarrhea like illness. But proper hand hygiene
and washing of vegetables before preparing food can prevent
the illness. As per the scientific study, in the stored food and
stored water also Klebsiella pneumonia is found.
6. Learned counsel for the petitioners further submitted
that since ten years the petitioners were doing catering
business in Government Departments and Hostel mess and
there is a contract to that effect and the same is continuing.
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As per the Government Contract tenders, if any criminal cases
are registered against the contractors, they are not eligible for
participating in the tenders. Because of this no fault liability,
the petitioners are not in a position to participate in the
tenders and the allegations against the petitioners are vague,
as such prayed the Court to quash the proceedings against
them.
7. On the other hand, learned Assistant Public Prosecutor
appearing for respondent No.1 submitted that the report of
RIMS, Adilabad shows that if the food is prepared without
washing the vegetables, the bacteria will develop which will
cause diarrhea. Therefore, the same requires trial and prayed
the Court to dismiss the petition.
8. Having regard to the rival submissions made by both
the learned counsel and having gone through the material
available on record, to quash the proceedings under Section
482 of Cr.P.C, the Court has to see whether the averments in
the complaint prima facie shows that it constitute the offence
as alleged by the Police.
9. At this stage, it is pertinent to note the Judgment of the
Hon'ble Supreme Court in State of Madhya Pradesh vs.
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Surendra Kori 1, wherein in paragraph No.14 it is held as
follows:
"The High Court in exercise of its powers
under Section 482 Cr.P.C. does not function as
a Court of appeal or revision. This Court has,
in several judgments, held that the inherent
jurisdiction under Section 482 Cr.P.C., though
wide, has to be used sparingly, carefully and
with caution. The High Court, under Section
482 Cr.P.C., should normally refrain from giving
a prima facie decision in a case where the
entire facts are incomplete and hazy, more so
when the evidence has not been collected and
produced before the Court and the issues
involved, whether factual or legal, are of wide
magnitude and cannot be seen in their true
perspective without sufficient material."
10. As seen from the record, the allegations against the
petitioners are that they prepared egg fried rice and the same
was unhygienic, due to which, 36 students got vomited.
Perusal of FSL report reveals that there is no poisonous
substance in the food and the RIMS, Adilabad report reveals
that Klebsiella Pneumonia was found in the samples and the
same can be associated with diarrhea like illness. But, proper
hand hygiene and washing of vegetables before preparing food
can prevent the illness. Whether the non-hygenic condition is
(2012) 10 Supreme Court Cases 155
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not a proper explanation and the report given by RIMS is not
proper, whether the said bacteria is harmful or not can be
decided after full-fledged trial only.
11. In view of the above discussion as well as the law laid
down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in State of Madhya
Pradesh (supra), this Court does not find any merit in the
criminal petition to quash the proceedings against the
petitioner and the same is liable to be dismissed.
12. Accordingly, the criminal petition is dismissed.
Miscellaneous applications, if any pending, shall also
stand closed.
_______________
K. SUJANA, J
Date: 08.04.2024
SAI
