Dismissed

Rajesh Gautam v. State of U.P. and 5 Others

Allahabad HC5 Sept 2024CRLA/1879/2024

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

The High Court dismissed an appeal challenging the rejection of an application under Section 156(3) Cr.P.C. filed by a non-SC/ST social worker seeking directions to register an FIR against persons who allegedly obtained fraudulent caste certificates. The court held that such applications cannot be filed by persons outside the SC/ST community.

What the court decided

AI extract

Rajesh Gautam vs State of U.P. and 5 Others — Caste Atrocities | Allahabad HC (2024)

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Neutral Citation No. - 2024:AHC:149599

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Court No. - 83

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Case :- CRIMINAL APPEAL No. - 1879 of 2024

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Appellant :- Rajesh Gautam Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 5 Others Counsel for Appellant :- Adeel Ahmad Khan Counsel for Respondent :- Bhaju Ram Pprasad Sharma,Dhrub Narayan Kharwar,G.A.,Vidya Dhar Dubey

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Hon'ble Saurabh Srivastava,J.

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1. Heard learned counsel for the parties.

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Present appeal has been preferred with a prayer to set aside the judgment and order dated 06.02.2024 passed by learned Special Judge/ Additional Special Judge (SC/ST Act), District Maharajganj in Application no. 49/2024 (Rajesh Gautam vs. Sahil Khan and others) filed under Section 156(3) Cr.P.C. having Computer Case no. UPMH010007402024, Police Station Ghughuli, Tahsil Sadar, District Maharajganj and direct the Special Judge/ Additional Special Judge (SC/ST Act), District Maharajganj to rehear the matter as fresh and pass appropriate order in application no. 49/2024 (Rajesh Gautam vs. Sahil Khan and others) filed under Section 156(3) Cr.P.C. having computer case no. UPMH010007402024, Police Station Ghughuli, Tahsil Sadar, District Maharajganj.

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Learned counsel for appellant submitted that appellant has filed an application under Section 156(3) Cr.P.C. on dated 05.02.2024 before learned Special Judge/ Additional Special Judge (SC/ST Act), District Maharajganj bearing application no. 49 of 2024 with a prayer to direct the concerned police station to register a FIR against opposite party nos. 2 to 5 along with 10 unknown persons. From perusal of application it will transpire that opposite party no. 4 and 5 are persons belonging to General category but in spite of that they have managed to get caste certificate of Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe community. Opposite party nos. 4 and 5 colluded with opposite party nos. 2 and 3, the area Lekhpal and concerned Tehsildar respectively who issued the case certificate on dated 07.01.2024.

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It is next submitted that on dated 02.06.2022, the concerned District Magistrate had already cancelled the caste certificate of opposite party nos. 4 and 5 but again opposite party nos. 4 and 5 moved application for obtaining caste certificate of SC/ST community and the same was again issued on dated 07.01.2024 by opposite party no. 3 in favour of opposite party nos. 4 and 5.

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Appellant being a social worker and member of Scheduled Caste community for the interest of public at large moved application under Section 156(3) Cr.P.C.

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before the concerned court but the same was rejected vide order dated 06.02.2024 which has been challenged through the instant appeal.

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Learned counsel for appellant challenged the impugned order on the ground that the learned trial court did not considered the matter properly and misread and misinterpreted the evidence available on record. Learned court below has given the finding that appellant does not belong to any organization or society of SC/ST community and asked what crime has been committed by opposite party against appellant which is a baseless question hence the impugned order is liable to be set aside.

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Per contra, learned counsel for respondent nos. 4 and 5 vehemently opposed the prayer sought through the instant appeal and submitted that appellant had no locus to file the application which has been rightly rejected by the concerned court.

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Learned AGA seconded the arguments raised by learned counsel for respondent nos. 4 and 5.

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After having the rival submissions extended by learned counsels for the parties, one thing is crystal clear that for redressal of the grievances a separate body has been incorporated as SC/ST Commission and the persons who might be the social worker engaged in development of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe community may approach to the said commission but the same right cannot be extended in their favour which has already been provided by the Constitution of India to SC/ST community through Section 156(3) Cr.P.C. A person from other community cannot be permitted to espouse the cause related to SC/ST community specifically in filing applications under Section 156(3) Cr.P.C. The instant matter espousing the cause for grievances pertains to SC/ST community is entirely different with the filing application before any Judicial Forum specifically before learned court concerned for seeking direction for lodging FIR in pursuance to the incident in which the persons belongs to SC/ST community have been hurt. In the instant matter "person" might be informant but the same cannot be person from community other than SC and ST and as such finding recorded by learned court concerned is highly justified.

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The petition lacks merit and hence stands dismissed accordingly.

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Order Date :- 12.9.2024 Shaswat

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Digitally signed by :- SHASWAT SINGH High Court of Judicature at Allahabad

Rajesh Gautam v. State of U.P. and 5 Others

Case brief

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Rajesh Gautam v. State of U.P. and 5 Others

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