No Useful Purpose Would Be Served By Subjecting Accused To Trial: Allahabad HC Quashes Proceedings Against Abbas Ansari In 2022 Case
|The Allahabad High Court has quashed the proceedings against MLA Abbas Ansari in the 2022 case saying that no useful purpose would be served by subjecting the accused to trial.
An application was filed by Ansari, his brother and uncle before the court against whom a case was filed in Mau District. As per the FIR, it was alleged that Ansari took out a procession after he was elected from a seat in Mau, which was alleged to have been done without permission by restraining public from movement.
A Single Bench of Justice Raj Beer Singh held, “Even if the prosecution case is accepted as such, no offence is made out and thus, no conviction of the applicants/accused is possible on such material. Thus, in view of aforesaid, the instant case falls within the categories carved out by the Hon’ble Apex Court for quashing of proceedings. Therefore, no useful purpose would be served by subjecting the applicants/ accused to trial.”
The Bench noted that when the complaint fails to disclose any criminal offence, the proceeding is liable to be quashed under Section 482 of CrPC.
Advocate Upendra Upadhyay appeared on behalf of the applicants/accused while Additional Advocate General Manish Goyal appeared on behalf of the opposite party/State.
In this case, an application under Section 482 CrPC was filed for quashing of the entire proceedings of criminal case under Sections 171-H, 188, and 341 IPC, pending before the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate. The counsel for the applicants submitted that no prima facie case was made out against the accused and that in view of the bar prescribed under Section 195 CrPC, the prosecution of applicants for the offence under Section 188 IPC was permissible only on a complaint in writing made by the competent officer, whose order could have been violated by the accused.
The High Court after hearing the contentions of the counsel observed, “… taking cognizance for offence under Section 188 IPC by the learned Trial Court is hit by Section 195 Cr.P.C. and, therefore, the order taking cognizance for offence under Section 188 IPC against the applicants on a police report is not sustainable and the same is liable to be set aside. … In the instant matter, there is absolutely no such allegation that any of the accused/applicant has incurred or authorized expenses on account of holding of any public meeting or upon any advertisement, circular or publication for the purpose of promoting or procuring the election of such candidate.”
The Court said that the legal position on the issue of quashing of criminal proceedings is well-settled that the jurisdiction to quash a complaint, FIR or a charge-sheet should be exercised sparingly and only in exceptional cases.
“However, where the allegations made in the FIR or the complaint and material on record even if taken at their face value and accepted in their entirety do not prima facie constitute any offence or make out a case against the accused, the charge-sheet may be quashed in exercise of inherent powers under Section 482 of the Cr.P.C.”, added the Court.
The Court further noted that when no offence is disclosed by the complaint, the court may examine the question of fact and when a complaint is sought to be quashed, it is permissible to look into the materials to assess what the complainant has alleged and whether any offence is made out even if the allegations are accepted in toto.
“In the instant matter, considering the allegations made in the first information report and the material collected during investigation, no prima facie case under Sections 171-H, 341 IPC is made out. So far the offence under sections 188 IPC is concerned, as stated above, no complaint of public servant was filed in terms of section 195 CrPC and the charge-sheet submitted by the police cannot be treated to be a complaint and thus, the cognizance of the offence under section 188 IPC is hit by the bar of Section 195 Cr.P.C.”, held the Court.
Accordingly, the High Court allowed the application and quashed the case against the accused.
Cause Title- Abbas Ansari and 2 Others v. State of U.P. and Another (Neutral Citation: 2023:AHC:176771)