Partly allowed

Navrati Devi and 3 Others v. State of U.P. and Another

Allahabad HC2 May 2023CRLA/1217/2023

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

In a criminal appeal under SC/ST Act challenging cognizance and charge-sheet based on false allegations, the High Court refused quashment directing the trial court to dispose of bail applications expeditiously if appellants surrender within 30 days.

What did the court decide?

Application to quash charges dismissed. Appeal disposed of with direction to trial court to decide bail applications expeditiously within 30 days if appellants surrender.

Navrati Devi and 3 Others Vs State of U.P. and Another — Caste Atrocities | Allahabad HC (2023)

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Court No. - 81

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Case :- CRIMINAL APPEAL No. - 1217 of 2023

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Appellant :- Navrati Devi And 3 Others Respondent :- State of U.P. and Another Counsel for Appellant :- Chandra Bhushan Singh Counsel for Respondent :- G.A.

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Hon'ble Mohd. Faiz Alam Khan,J.

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The report with regard to service of notice on opposite party no.2 is awaited. However, keeping in view the order intended to be pass the service of notice to the instant proceeding to the opposite party no.2 is hereby dispensed with, as the intended order may not be against the interest of the opposite party no.2, as only a direction is being given to the trial court for expeditious disposal of the bail application which may be moved by the appellants.

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Heard Shri Praveen Kumar Singh, Advocate holding brief of Sri Chandra Bhushan Singh, learned counsel for the appellants, as well as learned A.G.A. for the State and perused the record.

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The instant appeal under Section 14-A(1) SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, has been filed by the appellants- Navrati Devi, Kavita Rajbhar, Himanshu Rajbhar @ Chillu Rajbhar and Saloni Rajbhar with the prayer to allow the present appeal and set aside the cognizance/summoning order dated 26.7.2022 passed by learned Additional Sessions Judge/Special Judge (S.C./S.T. Act), Azamgarh and charge sheet dated 5.4.2022 as well as entire proceedings of Case No. 197 of 2022 (State vs. Navrati Devi), arising out of Case Crime No. 0061 of 2022, under Sections 323, 504, 506, 506,452 I.P.C. and Section 3(1)(da), 3(1)(dha) and 3(2) 5Ka of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (Amendment 2015), Police Station Sidhari, District Azamgarh.

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Learned counsel for the appellants has made many factual submissions to demonstrate that the FIR was lodged on false and concocted facts just to pressurize and harass the appellants and the Investigating Officer without going deep into the matter in a cursory manner has submitted the charge sheet, and the court below has taken cognizance without considering the matter in right perspective and, therefore, the charge sheet, the order of the Magistrate, whereby the cognizance has been taken and process is issued are bad in law and the same be quashed.

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Learned A.G.A. while controverting the arguments of the learned counsel for appellants submits that, the arguments of the learned counsel for appellants is, with regard to the factual aspects of the case which cannot be appreciated at this stage, as only a primafacie case is required to be seen at the stage of taking of cognizance and issuance of process.

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From the perusal of the material on record and looking into the facts of the case at this stage, it cannot be said that no offence is made out against appellants. All the submissions made at the bar, relate to the disputed questions of fact, which cannot be appreciated by this Court as at this stage only a primafacie case is to be seen in the light of the law laid down by Supreme Court in the cases of R.P. Kapur Vs. State of Punjab, A.I.R. 1960 S.C. 866, State of Haryana Vs. Bhajan Lal , 1992 SCC (Cr.) 426, State of Bihar Vs. P.P.Sharma , 1992 SCC (Cr.) 192, Zandu Pharmaceutical Works Ltd. Vs. Mohd. Saraful Haq, another (Para-10) 2005 SCC (Cr.) 283, Parabatbhai Ahir & Ors. Vs. State of Gujarat AIR 2017 SC 4843 and lastly State of Gujrat Vs Afroz Mohammed Hasanfatta reported in MANU/SC/0139/2019.

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Therefore, keeping in view the facts and circumstances of the case, the prayer for quashing the Charge-sheet, summoning order as well as all proceedings of the aforesaid case is hereby refused.

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Hon'ble Supreme Court in Hussain and Ors. Vs. Union of India (UOI) and Ors. reported in MANU/SC/0274/2017, In Re: To issue certain Guidelines Regarding inadequacies and deficiencies in Criminal Trials v. State of Andhra Pradesh and others, MANU/SC/0292/2021 have given various directions to criminal Courts for expeditious disposal of Bail applications. The ratio of above mentioned decisions in quite clear that, in the backdrop of Article 21 of the Constitution of India as the personal liberty of a person is at stake, the bail applications should be decided, expeditiously.

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Hon'ble Supreme Court in Satender Kumar Antil Vs. Central Bureau of Investigation and others : (2021) 10 SCC 773 has issued various guidelines and provided a scheme with regard to the cases where the Charge Sheet has been filed without arrest of the accused person(s) during investigation and accused person(s) have Cooperated throughout in the investigation including appearing before the Investigating Officer whenever called. Apex Court has also provided special procedure with regard to such cases where the charge sheet has been submitted under offences punishable with up to seven years of imprisonment. The law laid down by the

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Hon'ble Supreme Cout in Satendra Kumar Antil (supra) reiterated in the recent judgement in Aman Preet Singh Vs. C.B.I. through Director : 2021 SCC OnLine SC 941.

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In the backdrop of aforesaid decisions and keeping in view the entirety of facts and circumstances of the case and having regard to the request of learned counsel for the appellants, the appeal is disposed of with direction to the trial Court that if the appellants appear and surrender before the Court below within 30 days from today and apply for bail, their prayer for bail shall be considered and decided expeditiously by the Court below strictly in accordance with the law referred to herein above.

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It is further provided that while considering the plea of bail of the appellants, the trial court shall pay due regard that the appellant no.2 Kavita Rajbhar, appellant no.3- Himanshur Rajbhar @ Chillu Rajbhar and appellant no.4 Saloni Rajbhar are stated to be students and are of tender age.

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Order Date :- 2.5.2023 Akbar

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Digitally signed by :- MOHAMMAD AKBAR High Court of Judicature at Allahabad

Navrati Devi and 3 Others v. State of U.P. and Another

Case brief

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Navrati Devi and 3 Others v. State of U.P. and Another

Case brief

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