Smt. Pushpa Devi and Another Vs State of U.P. Thru. Prin. Secy. Home Govt. Lko. and Another — Allahabad HC (2024) — LawSathi Research

Smt. Pushpa Devi and Another Vs State of U.P. Thru. Prin. Secy. Home Govt. Lko. and Another — Allahabad HC (2024) — LawSathi Research

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

Quashing prayer refused; petition finally disposed of with directions that the applicants may move a discharge application through counsel within fifteen days, to be considered and disposed of by the Court below expeditiously, preferably within one month thereafter; benefit of the order conditional on filing within that period.

Issue for consideration

Whether the charge sheet dated 29.5.2022 in Case Crime No. 75 of 2022, the order dated 7.1.12023 passed by CJM, Court No. 16, Sultanpur in Crl. Case No. 2196 of 2023, and further proceedings thereof are liable to be quashed. +2 more

Court's answer

The disputed defence of the accused cannot be considered at this stage; the applicants have a right of discharge under Section 239 or 227/228 Cr.P.C., as the case may be, through a proper application, and are free to take all submissions in such discharge application before the Trial Court.

Ratio / Principle

After hearing learned counsel for the parties and perusing the averments in the petition, the prayer for quashing the proceedings of the aforementioned case is refused.

Key takeaways

If the applicants move an appropriate discharge application through counsel before the concerned Court below within fifteen days, it shall be considered and disposed of as expeditiously as possible, in accordance with law, preferably within one month thereafter.ratio¶¶13
If no such discharge application is filed within the prescribed period of fifteen days, the benefit of the present order shall not be available to the applicants.ratio¶¶14

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

Application under Section 482 Cr.P.C. seeking quashing of charge sheet dated 29.5.2022 in Case Crime No. 75 of 2022 under sections 2/3 of the Prevention of Damages to Public Property Act, P.S. Kotwali Nagar, district Sultanpur, and of the order dated 7.1.12023 (as printed) passed by CJM, Court No. 16, Sultanpur in Crl. Case No. 2196 of 2023 (State versus Pushpa Devi and another), with further proceedings. Held: the disputed defence of the accused cannot be considered at this stage; the applicants have a right of discharge under Section 239 or 227/228 Cr.P.C. through a proper application before the Trial Court. The prayer for quashing was refused. The applicants were permitted to move a discharge application through counsel within fifteen days, to be decided by the Court below expeditiously, preferably within one month thereafter; failing which the benefit of the order would not be available. Petition finally disposed of (Karunesh Singh Pawar, J.).

Neutral Citation No. - 2024:AHC-LKO:37428

Court No. - 15

Case :- APPLICATION U/S 482 No. - 4393 of 2024

Applicant :- Smt. Pushpa Devi and Smt. Archana Dwivedi Opposite Party :- State Of U.P. Thru. Prin. Secy. Home Govt. Lko. And Another Counsel for Applicant :- Ramakar Shukla Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.

Hon'ble Karunesh Singh Pawar,J.

Heard learned counsel for the applicants as well as learned A.G.A. for the State.

The present petition has been filed for quashing charge sheet dated 29.5.2022 vide case crime No.75 of 2022 under sections 2/3 of Prevention of Damages to Public Property Act, P.S. Kotwali Nagar, district Sultanpur and order dated 7.1.12023 passed by CJM, Court No.16, Sultanpur in Crl. Case No.2196 of 2023 (State versus Pushpa Devi and another) and further proceedings thereof.

The contention of the counsel for the applicants is that no offence against the applicants is disclosed and the present prosecution has been instituted with a malafide intention for the purposes of harassment. He pointed out certain documents and statements in support of his contention.

The disputed defence of the accused cannot be considered at this stage. Moreover, the applicants have got a right of discharge under Section 239 or 227/228 Cr.P.C. as the case may be through a proper application for the said purpose and they are free to take all the submissions in the said discharge application before the Trial Court.

After hearing the learned counsel for the parties and after perusing the averments made in the present petition, the prayer for quashing the proceedings of the aforementioned case is refused.

At this stage, learned counsel for the applicants submits that the applicants may be permitted to move an application for discharge through counsel and the same may be decided by the trial court in a time bound manner.

Accordingly, it is provided that in case, the applicants move an

appropriate application for discharge through counsel before the concerned Court below within a period of fifteen days from today, the same shall be considered and disposed of as expeditiously as possible in accordance with law, by the concerned Court below preferably within a period of one month thereafter.

In case no such application is filed within a period of fifteen days from today, as prescribed above, the benefit of present order shall not be available to the applicants.

With the aforesaid directions, this petition is finally disposed of.

Order Date :- 16.5.2024 kkb/

Digitally signed by :- KRISHNA KUMAR BARANWAL High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, Lucknow Bench