Allegations Of Raising Anti-India Slogans And Hailing Name Of Other Country In A Temple Make Out A Clear Case Of Trial: Allahabad HC Refuses To Quash Chargesheet
The Allahabad High Court stated that the allegations of hailing another country and raising anti-India Slogans in the temple, along with abusing and threatening the persons present there clearly make out a case of trial.
The Bench of Justice Subhash Vidyarthi held thus while rejecting the application filed under Section 482 CrPC seeking the quashing of summons by the trial Court along with the charge sheet.
The applicants were accused of raising anti-India slogans and hailing the name of the other country inside a temple when the religious preaching was going on. It was also alleged that they threatened the people present there.
FIR was filed under Section 153 and Section 506 of the IPC. A chargesheet was filed after the investigation, where they recorded the statements of various eyewitnesses supporting the FIR. Later, the lower Court issued summons to the accused. Hence, this application.
Advocate Israr Ahmed Ansari appeared for the applicant.
The Court observed, “While deciding the application under Section 482 Cr.P.C. this Court can merely examine as to whether the case for trial of the accused person is made out on the basis of prosecution allegations and the material collected in support thereof and this Court cannot go into questions of admissibility, relevancy or sufficiency of material collected by the prosecution while deciding the application under Section 482 Cr.P.C. for quashing of the charge-sheet and proceedings arising therefrom.”
The Court mentioned the decision of the Supreme Court in Central Bureau of Investigation vs. Aryan Singh, 2023 SCC Online 379, in which as per the Court, SC held that while exercising a power under Section 482 Cr. P.C this court cannot go into the disputed question of fact and hold a mini-trial to adjudicate the correctness of the allegations and that is to be done by the trial court after the parties are given the opportunity to lead evidence in support of their respective case.
The Court further relied on the decision of the Supreme Court in Rajeev Kourav v. Baisahab, (2020) 3 SCC 317 where SC observed, “…It is trite law that the High Court cannot embark upon the appreciation of evidence while considering the petition filed under Section 482 CrPC for quashing criminal proceedings. It is clear from the law laid down by this Court that if a prima facie case is made out disclosing the ingredients of the offence alleged against the accused, the Court cannot quash a criminal proceeding."
After going through the relevant cases, the Court concluded that while deciding an application under Section 482 Cr.P.C, for quashing of criminal case, this court should examine the prosecution case only to ascertain whether the case for trial of the accused person was made out or not and the defense of the accused cannot be taken into consideration at this stage.
Consequently, the Court rejected the application.
Cause Title: Faizan Ahmad @ Idrisi Faizan Shamshad Ahmad v. State Of U.P. (Neutral Citation: 2024:AHC-LKO:22888)
Appearance:
Appellant: Adv. Israr Ahmad Ansari, Adv. Vinod Kumar
Respondent: Additional Government Counsel Gyanendra Singh