S. Mukanchand Bothra vs Commissioner of Police and Others

T. Sudanthiram, J.—This petition has been filed by the petitioner praying for a direction to the third respondent police to register the

complaint dated 4.1.2013 submitted by the petitioner to the first respondent which is pending on the file of the third respondent. Heard the

petitioner, who is appeared as party-in-person and the learned Additional Public Prosecutor.

According to the petitioner, he gave a complaint to the Commissioner of Police, Greater Chennai City, Egmore, Chennai, on 4.1.2013. But, no

action was taken by the police on the said complaint. The allegation made by the petitioner in the complaint is that one Mr. Anbarasu, Ex.M.P.

misused and abused the Indian Government Emblem in his letter pad for lodging the complaint against the petitioner before the police and he used

such Emblem in order to influence the police to register a case against the petitioner. The complaint, which was given to the Commissioner of

Police, was forwarded to the Inspector of Police, Central Crime Branch, Egmore, Chennai.

The petitioner submitted that the said Anbarasu, by misusing the Government Emblem, had committed an offence u/s 3 of The State Emblem of

India (Prohibition of Improper Use) Act, 2005, (hereinafter referred to as ''the Act'') which is as follows:

Prohibition of improper use of emblem.-Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, no person shall use the

emblem or any colourable imitation thereof in any manner which tends to create an impression that it relates to the Government or that it is an

official document of the Central Government or, as the case may be, the State Government, without the previous permission of the Central

Government or of such officer of that Government as may be authorised by it in this behalf.

Explanation.- For the purposes of this Section, ""person"" includes a former functionary of the Central Government or the State Governments.

Section 7 of the Act prescribes penalty which is as follows:

Penalty.- (1) Any person who contravenes the provisions of Section 3 shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to

two years, or with fine which may extend to five thousand rupees, or with both, or if having been previously convicted of an offence under this

Section, is again convicted of any such offence, he shall be punishable for the second and for every subsequent offence with imprisonment for a

term which shall not be less than six months, which may extend to two years and with fine which may extend to five thousand rupees.

(2) Any person who contravenes the provisions of Section 4 for any wrongful gain shall be punishable for such offence with imprisonment for a

term which shall not be less than six months, which may extend to two years and with fine which may extend to five thousand rupees.

According to the learned Additional Public Prosecutor, the complaint against the petitioner was given by the said Anbarasu on 27.5.2006 and

the present complaint by the petitioner was given to the police after lapse of six years i.e., on 4.1.2013. The learned Additional Public Prosecutor

further submitted that the offence u/s 3 of the Act is a non-cognizable offence and he has also filed a memo to that extent. As per Section 7 of the

Act, the maximum punishment is only two years of imprisonment. In the Code of Criminal Procedure, as per the First Schedule, Classification of

Offences Against Other Laws, the offence being punishable with imprisonment for less than three years, it becomes non-cognizable offence. In the

said circumstances, no direction can be given to the police to register a case on the basis of the complaint given by the petitioner. Hence, this

petition is dismissed.