Sufficient Grounds To Proceed With Trial: Jharkhand HC Dismisses Congress MLA's Plea For Quashing Sexual Harassment Case

The Jharkhand High Court has dismissed the criminal revision of Congress MLA Pradeep Yadav who sought quashing of sexual harassment case against him. It said that there are sufficient grounds to proceed trial against him.

The accused had preferred a criminal revision against the order passed by the Additional Sessions Judge for the case registered under Sections 376, 511, 354-A, 354-B, 354-D, 379, 506, 509, and 34 of the IPC, whereby the discharge petition filed by him under Section 227 of the Cr.PC. was rejected.

A Single Bench of Justice Subhash Chand observed, “In view of the allegations made in the F.I.R., the cumulative evidence collected by the I.O. during investigation i.e., oral as well as documentary and the settled propositions of law as laid down by the Hon’ble Apex Court as referred hereinabove, there are sufficient grounds to proceed trial against the accused. As such, the impugned order dated 2nd April, 2022 passed by the court below rejecting the discharge application needs no interference.”

Advocate Vimal Kirti Singh represented the petitioner/accused while A.C. to A.A.G.-III Binit Chandra represented the State and Advocate Savita Kumari represented the opposite party.

In this case, the victim was a practising Advocate in the High Court and was the Central Spokesperson of Jharkhand Viskash Morcha Party. One day she left her residence to attend the program of party and thereafter received a call from the accused MLA. He asked her to come to attend the meeting and informed that he would introduce her with team members. When she reached the hotel, she was asked by the receptionist to wait for the accused in a room. At around 9:20 p.m., the accused entered the room and then caught the victim’s hand and began to pull.

The victim became shocked and despite protest, he did not release her. She screamed loudly but he put another hand on her shoulder to touch at other parts of her body. He also began to pull cloth here and there and started misbehaving with her. Thereafter using un-parliamentary language, he put his hand on her mouth and pushed her on the bed and bent towards her due to which the victim kicked him with full force and he fell down at the corner. After such an incident, the accused threatened her and ultimately a case was registered against him.

The High Court in view of the above facts noted, “Keeping in view the allegations made in the F.I.R., the evidence collected by the I.O. which has been discussed hereinabove and the case law relied upon by the learned counsel for the petitioner are not found to help in discharging the petitioner from the allegations levelled against him.”

Accordingly, the High Court dismissed the criminal revision and affirmed the order passed by the lower court.

Cause Title- Pradeep Yadav v. The State of Jharkhand

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