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Judgment
Mary Joseph, J
This petition is filed seeking to quash Form-2 Report/complaint and all further proceedings initiated against the petitioners in CC No.1061/2021 pending on the files of Judicial First Class Magistrate Court-II, Punalur. Copy of Form-2 Report/complaint is produced alongwith the petition on hand as Annexure 13.
First petitioner is the registered owner of a Mahindra Jeep bearing registration No.KL-01-AA-4542 and the second petitioner is his wife. They were implicated as accused Nos.4 and 5 in OR No.1/2020 of Shenduruney Wildlife Sanctuary. The offences allegedly committed by them are those punishable under Sections 2(1), 2(16), (a), (b), (c), 9, 27, 31, 32, 39, 50, 51 and 57 of the Wild Life (Protection Act), 1972 (for short ’the Act’). Accused No.1 is an employee of the estate situated near to the estate owned by the petitioners herein and accused 2 and 3 are the employees of the petitioners herein.
The allegation of the prosecution was that the accused 1 to 3 hunted a peafowl (Pavo Cristatus) from Shenduruney Wildlife Sanctuary, cooked and consumed it. Peafowl being an animal included in Part III of Schedule I of the Act, arraigning the persons responsible for hunting, cooking and consuming it, O.R. No.1/2020 was registered against them.
Petitioners were implicated for the reason that the vehicle in which the meat of the peafowl was allegedly transported belong to them. The further allegation of the respondent was that some firearms were recovered from the Bungalow situated in the estate belonging to the petitioners.
Going through the materials on record, this Court could not find anything to indicate involvement of the petitioners with the alleged commission of offences. They were not present at the spot wherefrom utensils containing cooked meat of the peafowl or the firearms were seized. Solely for the reason that the vehicle involved and the bungalow, belong to the petitioners, they were implicated in O.R. No.1/2020, which formed the basis for registration of CC No.1061/2021 on the files of Judicial First Class Magistrate Court-II, Punalur.
The learned Special Government Pleader (Forests) submitted on the basis of materials that there is nothing to connect the petitioners with the crime, implicating them as accused in CC No.1061/2021. For the reasons, this Court finds it expedient in the interest of justice to quash the prosecution pending as against the petitioners.
In the result, Crl.M.C stands allowed. O.R. No.1/2020 of Shenduruney Wildlife Sanctuary, CC No.1061/2021 registered and pending on the files of Judicial First Class Magistrate Court-II, Punalur, on its basis and all further proceedings so far initiated stand quashed as against petitioners 1 and 2.