Sohan Singh vs State of Punjab

K.P.S. Sandhu, J.

The petitioner was charged by the Judicial Magistrate First Class, Phagwara, under Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code and under Section 406 of the Indian Penal Code as well as on the same facts. The petitioner has come up under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure for the quashing of the charges and the proceedings. The main plea raised by Mr. Sharma, learned counsel for the petitioner, is that these two charges cannot be clubbed together, both being antithesis of each other. To support this proposition he has placed reliance on P.N. Sehgal v. Amar Nath, 1980 P.L.R. 39, and Iqbal Singh Randhawa v. Dr. Sat Paul Goyal, 1977 C.L.R. 134 (Punjab and Haryana), wherein it has been held that these charges cannot be clubbed together. Mr. H.S. Bajwa, learned counsel for the State, does not have any quarrel with this proposition of law. Consequently I quash the charges framed against the petitioner and send the case back to the learned trial Magistrate for reconsidering the matter of framing the charge. The petitioner through his counsel is directed to appear before the learned Magistrate on 29th August, 1983.