This High Court of Kerala dismissed a petition seeking quashing of an FIR and final report under IPC Section 420 and Kerala Money Lenders Act Section 17, holding that contentions regarding delay and lack of offence should be raised during discharge proceedings in the trial court.
Petition dismissed; petitioner advised to plead for discharge in the trial court.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM
PRESENT:
THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE K.ABRAHAM MATHEW
MONDAY, THE 12TH DAY OF MARCH 2018 / 21ST PHALGUNA, 1939
Crl.MC.No. 4847 of 2015
C.C.NO. 202/2015 OF JUDICIAL FIRST CLASS MAGISTRATE COURT-I, MANANTHAVADY
CRIME NO. 405/2014 OF VELLAMUNDA POLICE STATION
PETITIONER(S)
P.C.NAZAR, AGED 48 YEARS,
S/O. ALI, PANNIYODAN CHERIYA VEEDU, KUNHOME P.O., WAYANAD DISTRICT.
BY ADVS. SRI.KRISHNA PRASAD. S
SRI.NOBEL RAJU
RESPONDENT(S)/DEFACTO COMPLAINANTS:
1. STATE OF KERALA, REPRESENTED BY THE PUBLIC PROSECUTOR HIGH COURT OF KERALA, ERNAKULAM, REPRESENTING S.I OF POLICE, VELLAMUNDA POLICE STATION, WAYANAD DISTRICT.
2. USMAN PARAMBATH, S/O.AMMADH, VELLILADY, PARAMBATH VEEDU, KANJIRANGAD, VELLAMUNDA, WAYANAD, PIN- 670 731.
R1 BY PUBLIC PROSECUTOR SRI.AMJAD ALI
THIS CRIMINAL MISC. CASE HAVING BEEN FINALLY HEARD ON 12-03-2018, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY PASSED THE FOLLOWING:
Msd.
13.03.2018
Crl.MC.No. 4847 of 2015
APPENDIX
PETITIONER(S)' ANNEXURES :
RESPONDENT(S)' ANNEXURES :
NIL
//TRUE COPY//
P.S.TO JUDGE
Msd.
K.ABRAHAM MATHEW J
Crl.M.C. No.4847 of 2015
Dated this the 12th day of March, 2018
ORDER
Petitioner is the accused in C.C.No.202 of 2015 on the file of the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court-I, Mananthavady in which the allegation is that he has committed the offences under Section 420 IPC and Section 17 of the Kerala Money Lenders Act. The prayer is to quash Annexure A1 FIR and Annexure A3 final report.
only the following can be taken notice of.
i. There was a long delay in informing the police. So before the registration of the case the police should have conducted a preliminary enquiry.
ii. Final report was filed beyond the prescribed period of
limitation.
iii. The facts of the case do not disclose commission of any
offence.
With regard to the first ground, there cannot be any doubt that delay in
Crl.M.C. No.4847 of 2015 2
informing the police alone cannot be a ground to quash the final report. More over, the learned Public Prosecutor submits that the delay has been explained in the final report. Coming to the second ground, it is for the court to decide whether the final report was filed beyond the period of limitation. The last ground is that the facts of the case do not disclose commission of an offence. This is a matter to be argued before the trial court. So it is only proper that the petitioner pleads for discharge in the trial court. All the above contentions may be raised before the trial court.
In the result, this Crl.M.C is dismissed. The petitioner may plead for discharge in the trial court. He may raise all probable contentions before the trial court.
Sd/-
K.ABRAHAM MATHEW JUDGE
pm
3 issues framed by the court
Whether delay in reporting to police or limitations on filing the final report are grounds to quash the FIR and final report.
Whether the facts of the case disclose the commission of an offence for which the trial court should decide on discharge.
Whether a criminal miscellaneous petition seeking quashing of charges under IPC Section 420 and Kerala Money Lenders Act Section 17 should be allowed.
2 provisions across 2 enactments
P.C.Nazar
State of Kerala
K.Abraham Mathew
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
