Om Prakash vs State of U.P. and Another

Barkat Ali Zaidi, J.—This is a petition u/s 482, Code of Criminal Procedure for complaint case filed by Respondent lady in the Court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Mirzapur, the applicant has been summoned under Sections 354, 504 and 506, I.P.C. and Section 3(1)(x) of SC/ST Act.

The allegations from the side of the complainant-lady are that her husband was engaged in stone breaking business at the place of accused-applicant and the wages amounting to Rs. 18,000 of her husband was due against the applicant-accused which the applicant-accused did not pay to her and her husband despite many demands raised by her and her husband, and also insulted her whenever the payment she demanded from the accused. On 28.4.1999, around 10 O''clock when the complainant was evacuating her bowels in a field, the accused descended there, caught hold of her and assaulted her sexually. This incident was witnessed by her husband and one Om Prakash and many Ors. who arrived on the spot after hearing her cries. The accused, decamped there after proclaiming her as ''chamari'' and threatening for life. Due to the fear of the applicant, she could not get her medically examined and the police too declined to register her report. She, thereafter sent a registered information on 15.5.1999 to the Senior Superintendent of Police, Mirzapur but in vain.

The contention from the side of the applicant is that the applicant has been roped in this false case and that is why the charge-sheet should be quashed.

I have heard Sri H. N. Singh, learned Counsel for the applicant and Sri Sushil Kumar Srivastava, for the lady-Respondent and the learned A.G.A. for the State.

From the facts and circumstances enumerated above, it is not difficult to gather that the real purpose of filing the complaint was to browbeat the accused for paying the amount, which according to the complainant was due to her husband. According to the complainant herself, the accused-applicant was not paying her husband''s wages, which had amounted to Rs. 18,000 and it is the realization of this amount, which is the primary motivation for filing this complaint. The allegations of sexual assault are clearly a cover up in order to coerce the applicant-accused into submission. These circumstance, that incident took place on 28.4.1999 and the fact that the complaint was sent on 15.5.1999 to Senior Superintendent of Police, Mirzapur, after about 17 days, is itself one of the features suggesting false implication. There was further delay in filing of the complaint which was filed a month after the occurrence which further adds to the suspicion. No medical examination took place to confirm the allegations of the lady Respondent. The witnesses Vikram and Satish Kumar who were examined u/s 202, Code of Criminal Procedure ultimately turned up to say that they were not the persons who have deposed and instead of marking an inquiry, the Magistrate has merely stated that the signatures of these persons and the witnesses appear to be similar. They were not sent to any hand writing expert for examination. The Court itself assumed the role of hand writing expert. An inquiry by a Gazetted Officer, i.e., Circle Officer after it was marked by the Senior Superintendent of Police on complaint of the complainant, revealed the falsity of the allegations. The report of the Circle Officer is Annexure-5 on the record.

All these circumstances provide a clear inference that the lady-Respondent has come up with false allegations.

Circumstances have always been considered in the judicial arena as even more reliable than human testimony and rightly so because like men they are not likely to tell lies.

In these circumstances, the continuation of these proceedings, which are ab initio fallacious, would amount to an abuse of the process of court, and they, need to be terminated, at the earliest opportunity.

The petition is, therefore, allowed and the proceedings of Criminal Case No. 2451 of 1999, Smt. Shakuntala Devi v. Om Prakash Criminal Case No. 2451 of 1999, under Sections 354, 504 and 506, I.P.C. and Section 3(i)(x) of S.C./S.T. Act, pending in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Mirzapur, are quashed.

Let a copy of this order be sent to the trial Magistrate for information and compliance.