Amarjeet Gupta, son of Late Bharat Lal Gupta, Aged about 51 years, presently residing v. 1. The State of Jharkhand 2. Abhishek Kumar Gupta, son of Sri Jai Prakash
Case Details
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND, RANCHI W.P. (Cr.) No. 562 of 2023 ---- Amarjeet Gupta, son of Late Bharat Lal Gupta, Aged about 51 years, presently residing Flat No.201, 2nd Floor, Krishna Apartment, Old Commissioner’s Compound, Main Road Ranchi, P.O. – G.P.O., P.S. – Daily Market, Permanent Resident of Ankur Niwas, Church Road, Ranchi, P.O. and P.S. – Lower Bazar, District – Ranchi, State – Jharkhand .... Petitioner -- Versus -- 1. The State of Jharkhand 2. Abhishek Kumar Gupta, son of Sri Jai Prakash Gupta, resident of village – Flat 4B, Aman Arcade, Harmu Road, P.O. – Argora, P.S. – Sukhdeonagar, District – Ranchi, State - Jharkhand .... Respondents ----
Legal Reasoning
CORAM: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE SANJAY KUMAR DWIVEDI --- :- Mr. Kaushik Sarkhel, Advocate For the Petitioner For the State :- Mr. Binit Chandra, Advocate For respondent No.2 :- Mr. Nilesh Kumar, Advocate ---- 14/04.09.2024 Heard learned counsel appearing for the petitioner, learned counsel appearing for the respondent State and learned counsel appearing for the respondent No.2. 2. The prayer in the writ petition is made for quashing the entire criminal proceeding arising out of Complaint Case No.4506 of 2017 which was converted as Sukhdeonagar P.S. Case No.13 of 2018 corresponding to G.R. No.232 of 2018 pending in the Court of learned Judicial Magistrate-III, Ranchi. 3. Learned counsel appearing for the petitioner submits that the said complaint case was filed by the respondent No.2 alleging --1-- W.P. (Cr.) No. 562 of 2023 that after purchase of the land in question the said land was not mutated in the name of the respondent No.2. He submits that the said complaint case was filed without any affidavit and that is violation of the guidelines issued by Hon’ble the Supreme Court in the case of Priyanka Srivastava & Ors. Vs. State of Uttar Pradesh & Ors. Reported in (2015) 6 SCC 287. He further submits that the learned Court without applying his judicial mind has referred the matter under Section 156(3) of Cr.P.C. pursuant to that the FIR has been registered. He submits that now the charge- sheet has also been submitted. He submits that the said land was purchased by the petitioner by two sale deeds firstly purchased from Parvati Devi in the year 2013 contained in Annexure-5. He submits that thereafter the said land has been sold to the respondent No.2 and the sale deed has already executed in favour of the respondent No.2 and the respondent No.2 is in possession of the said land and the electricity connection has also taken by the respondent No.2 in the same land. By way of referring Annexure-4, he submits that the Register-II was also open with regard to the said land. He further submits that long running jamabandi can’t be cancelled and only on the ground that the mutation was not done in favour of the respondent No.2, the complaint case has been filed. On this ground, he submits that the entire criminal proceeding may kindly be quashed. 4. Learned counsel appearing for the respondent State submits --2-- W.P. (Cr.) No. 562 of 2023 that the counter affidavit has been filed wherein it has been stated that the land in question is a government land. 5. Learned counsel appearing for the respondent No.2 submits that the suppressing fact that the land in question is a government land and that was sold on the agreed consideration and with specific statement the land does not belong to the government. He further submits that the mutation was not done even in the name of the petitioner and suppressing all these facts, he has sold the land and in view of that the case against the petitioner is made out since he has the knowledge. 6. In view of the above submission of learned counsel appearing for the parties, the Court finds that earlier the complaint case was filed and the said complaint case was filed in absence of the affidavit and the learned Court only by way of endorsement at the first page of the complaint has sent it under Section 156(3) of Cr.P.C. before the police for registration of FIR. It is well settled that once a complaint case is filed that must be on affidavit and for sending the same to the police the learned Court is required to apply his judicial mind as held in the case of Priyanka Shrivastava (Supra). Further the charge-sheet is submitted. The allegation in the FIR is made that on purchase, the mutation was applied by the respondent No.2 and the mutation was refused,
Decision
however, Annexure-4 is a document at page 46 of the writ petition which clearly suggests that the Register-II was open with regard to --3-- W.P. (Cr.) No. 562 of 2023 the land in question, it may not be in the name of the petitioner or the respondent No.2 but Register-II is there. Petitioner himself is a purchaser from Parvati Devi in the year 2013 and thereafter he has sold the land to the respondent No.2. At least twice the land in question was transferred through registered sale deed, if that fact is there only on the bald allegation of the state that the land in question is a government land criminal proceeding can’t be allowed to be proceeded. It is well settled that even after the charge-sheet is submitted and the trial is proceeded, the High Court can quash the proceeding, if a case is made out at any stage. Recently, this aspect has been further reiterated by Hon’ble the Supreme Court in the case of Shaileshbhai Ranchhodbhai Patel and Anr. Versus State of Gujarat and Ors. in Criminal Appeal No.1884 of 2013, as such the entire criminal proceeding arising out of Complaint Case No.4506 of 2017 which was converted into Sukhdeonagar P.S. Case No.13 of 2018 corresponding to G.R. No.232 of 2018 pending in the Court of learned Judicial Magistrate-III, Ranchi is hereby quashed. 7. 8. This petition is disposed of. This order will not prejudice with regard to any civil proceeding, if any, by the respondent No.2. 9. Pending petition, if any, is also disposed of. Sangam/ (Sanjay Kumar Dwivedi, J.) --4-- W.P. (Cr.) No. 562 of 2023