Lav Thapa and Another vs State of Uttarakhand and Another

Dharam Veer, J.—This criminal application, preferred u/s 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (hereinafter to be referred as Code of Criminal Procedure), is directed for quashing the entire proceedings in S.T. No. 49 of 2010, State v. Sanjay Negi and Ors. pending in the court of Sessions Judge, Nainital arising from FIR No. 48/2009, PS Kaladhungi, Distt. Nainital under Sections 147/148/149/307/332/109/302/396/333/353/336/412/34/436/427/120B IPC with Section 7 of Criminal Law Amendment Act and Section 3 PPDP Act, so far as the present applicants are concerned.

Heard learned Counsel for the parties and perused the material on record.

The facts of the case are that on 23.8.2009 at about 9 AM, PS Kaladhungi received an information am that a mob has collected at Chakluva in respect of death of Balwant Singh Kanyal @ Minu and Harish Chandra Sati, Circle Officer, Ramnagar informed that the mob had become aggressive and they were misbehaving with the police personnel and also beating them. It was also informed that carbine of CP Kishore Tiwari was snatched by the mob and a roadways bus was burnt and they were planning to burn the police station and were marching towards the police station. On this information, the S.O. collected the force in the police station. At about 9.30 am, a mob of 500-600 people which included both men and women armed with pistols, sickles, axes, stones and plastic canes came near the police station. They were shouting against the police and were also hurling abuses. Some of them went towards the backside of the police station. Police was deployed to disburse the mob, on which the mob attacked on the police station. They started pelting stones, firing gunshots. They wanted to kill the police personnel and their family members and also wanted to burn the entire police station. The Station Officer tried to calm down the mob but they became violent and forcibly entered into the office of the police station, its malkhana, computer room, residential quarters of the police officials, ladies barrack and started looting. They set on fire the police station and the vehicles parked inside the police station by pouring petrol and kerosene oil. Water cannon was also used by the fire brigade to disburse the mob but the mob could not be stopped. Thereafter the Station Officer and Head Constable Satyendra Gigola fired three rounds each to disburse the mob and then the mob came on the road outside the police station. Police force from other police stations started arriving at Kaladhungi police station and the mob continued to ransack the vehicles of police parties, which were coming to the said police station. Meanwhile, Pooran Lal Day, Head Constable Promoted (HCP) was badly beaten by the mob by lathis, dandas and stones in front of the police station and he died on the spot. The official vehicle of SP (City) was burnt. The mob also misbehaved with DM and SSP. In self-defence and in order to protect the public property, necessary force was used by the police to disburse the mob. The injured police personnel were sent to hospital for medical treatment. It was also averred that the mob attacked the police officials using illegal arms and created great havoc and terror in the area. With these averments the FIR No. 48 of 2009 was lodged by Station Officer Ramkishor Saklani on 23.8.2009 at 5.40 pm. Thereafter, the matter was investigated in which the name of the applicant also came into light and accordingly the charge sheet was filed against the applicant and other co-accused in the court under the aforesaid sections. Hence this petition.

A counter affidavit has been filed on behalf of the State wherein it is stated that during the course of investigation, it came to light that one Mintu Chaudhary, who was detained in Dehradun Jail, was the mastermind of the incident of 23.8.09, who was regularly in contact with the other accused persons of the present case through mobile phone and thereby gave finalization to the incident dated 23.8.09. It is further stated that the applicants were on the duty as security guards and during the course of their duty, they provided mobile phones to Mintu Chaudhary in Dehradun Jail, therefore, they were also involved in commission of the crime and after concluding the investigation, on the basis of evidence, charge sheet was submitted in this case in the court concerned. Further, the I.O. during the course of investigation also recorded the statements of the witnesses, namely, Satish Kumar Sukhija, Jailor as well as Madan Lal, Head Warden u/s 161 Code of Criminal Procedure, who have also corroborated the same facts.

Learned Counsel appearing for the Petitioners argued that no offence is made out against them. I do not find any force in this argument for the reason that on a perusal of the FIR, the averments made in the counter affidavit filed by the State, perusing the statements of the witnesses, namely, Satish Kumar Sukhija and Madan Lal recorded u/s 161 Code of Criminal Procedure, the offences, under which they have been charge sheeted, prima facie made out against them on the basis of the above-said discussion. The applicants/accused cannot be absolved merely on the ground that they are the police personnel.

Even the trial court will decide the case on the basis of the appreciation of the evidence as per law. It is well settled that while exercising jurisdiction u/s 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, this Court would not ordinarily embark upon the enquiry as to whether the evidence in question is reliable or not or whether on a reasonable appreciation of it accusation would not be sustained. That is the function of the trial court. I am of the view that in the present case there is neither any miscarriage of justice nor any abuse of process of court.

For the reasons recorded above, there is no force in the application. The application C482 is devoid of merits and is hereby dismissed in limine.