High Court

Hon'ble Nalin Kumar Srivastava,J.

1. This criminal appeal under Section 14-A (1) Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act (in short 'the SC/ST Act') has been preferred by the appellant - Mohd. Farooq with the prayer to set-aside the summoning order dated 22.11.2024 passed by the Special Judge (SC/ST Act), Prayagraj in Special Sessions Trial No. Nil of 2024 and to quash the charge sheet no. 118 of 2024 dated 11.8.2024 arising out of case crime no. 204 of 2024, under Sections 323, 504 IPC and 3(2)( va), 3 (1) Dha of the SC/ST Act, P.S. Mauaima, District- Prayagraj.

2. Heard learned counsel for the appellant, learned A.G.A. for the State and perused the entire record. None appears for the respondent no.2 despite service of notice.

3. It is submitted by the learned counsel for the appellant that appellant is innocent and has been falsely implicated in this case. No injury has been caused to the injured persons of this case. The police has also submitted charge sheet on the basis of insufficient evidence against the appellant. Essential ingredients to constitute the alleged offences are lacking. The present prosecution has been instituted with a malafide intention. Appellant has no criminal history to his credit. Learned counsel for the appellant pointed out certain documents and statements in support of his contention.

4. The next argument advanced by the learned counsel for the appellant is that the I.O. of this case collected absolutely no evidence to the effect that the incident took place in any place within the public view and intentional insult or intimidation was made by the appellant. It is further submitted that there is not even an iota of evidence on record as collected by the I.O. that the appellant committed the alleged offence knowing the injured being a member of SC/ST community. It is also submitted that the appellant never hurled abuses to insult the victims by caste related remarks. The impugned order suffers from infirmity and illegality warranting interference by this Court.

5. Per contra, the learned AGA and the learned counsel for the opposite party no.2 opposed the appeal and submitted that at the stage of taking cognizance and summoning the accused, the Magistrate / Court dealing with the matter is required to apply judicial mind only with a view to take cognizance of the offence to find-out as to whether prima-facie case has been made out to summon the accused or not. The Court concerned after applying its judicial mind has passed the cognizance and summoning order on the basis of sufficient evidence on record. There is no infirmity or illegality in the impugned order warranting interference by this Court. Hence, the appeal having no force is liable to be dismissed.

6. I have considered the rival submissions made by the learned counsel for the parties and have gone through the entire record including the impugned order.

7. It is trite law that at the stage of taking cognizance and summoning the accused, the Magistrate / Court dealing with the matter is required to apply judicial mind only with a view to take cognizance of the offence to find-out as to whether prima-facie case has been made out to summon the accused or not. The Court at this stage is not required to analyze the material on record to find-out as to whether the matter may lead to conviction or not. Sufficiency of materials for the purpose of conviction is not required. It is also settled that even when there are materials raising strong suspicion against the accused, the Court will be justified in taking cognizance and summoning the accused. The Court / Magistrate is not required to analyze the evidence on merits but to scrutinize the evidence only with a view as to whether sufficient grounds exist to initiate criminal proceedings in respect of the offence which is said to have been committed (Vide : R.P. Kapur Vs. State of Punjab, A.I.R. 1960 S.C. 866, State of Haryana Vs. Bhajan Lal, 1992 SCC (Cr.) 426, State of Bihar Vs. P.P.Sharma, 1992 SCC (Cr.) 192 and Zandu Pharmaceutical Works Ltd. Vs. Mohd. Saraful Haq and another, 2005 SCC (Cr.) 283).

8. In State of Gujarat v. Afroz Mohammed Hasanfatta, (2019) 20 SCC 539, the Hon'ble Apex Court reiterated that for issuance of summons strict standard of proof of satisfaction of the Magistrate regarding sufficiency of ground(s) to proceed in the matter is not required and such satisfaction should be based only on prima facie evidence. Before summoning the accused, the facts stated will have to be accepted as they appear on the very face of it. Sufficiency of evidence to hold accused guilty, merits of matter and defence pleas have to be examined at the stage of trial and not at the stage of issuance of process. Whether statement of a witness is hearsay and whether it is supported by "contemporaneous exposition" and whether it would fall under "res gestae" and whether it is admissible or not is to be seen only at the time of trial.

9. So far the case in hand is concerned, the prosecution claims that the accused appellant made an assault upon the daughter of informant who is a member of SC/ST community and serious injury was caused to her when she was attacked with a danda in her left leg and when it was protested by the informant the accused appellant further made an assault upon Manglesh Kumar, Arvind Kumar and two other children. FIR was lodged and after thorough investigation charge sheet was submitted. The injured, daughter of the informant namely Anchal Kumari aged about 10 years was also medically examined and she complained of pain in the right back of knee joint, however she was advised for x-ray and no adversity was found in the x-ray report of injured Anchal Kumari. It is further submitted that the informant, injured witness Anchal Kumari, eye-witnesses Arvind Kumar and Manglesh Kumar also corroborated the prosecution version in their statement recorded by the I.O. As per narration made in the FIR, the incident took place outside the house and at a public place within the public view. The informant belongs to SC/ST community and since the informant and injured persons and accused appellant are native of the same vicinity the accused appellant was well known this fact that the informant belongs to SC/ST community. It further appears from perusal of record that the offence was committed because of the injured and informant being members of SC/ST community.

10. As is evident, all the submissions made at the bar relate to the disputed questions of fact, which cannot be adjudicated upon by this Court in this appeal. At this stage only a prima facie case is to be seen in the light of the settled law, as discussed here-in-above. From a perusal of the material available on record and keeping in view the facts of the case, at this stage it cannot be said that offences levelled against the appellant are not made out and the record shows that a cognizable offence is clearly made out against the appellant. Sufficient evidence has been collected against the appellant during the course of investigation. The Court concerned did not err in taking cognizance into the matter and thereby to summon the accused / appellant to face trial for the offences made out prima facie. There is no force in the submissions made by the learned counsel for the appellant. The impugned order does not suffer from illegality, infirmity, perversity or lack of judicial mind. The prayer made in the appeal is refused.

11. The criminal appeal being devoid of merits is liable to be dismissed and the same is accordingly dismissed. Order Date :- 15.5.2025 Fhd

Hon'ble Nalin Kumar Srivastava,J.

1. This criminal appeal under Section 14-A (1) Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act (in short 'the SC/ST Act') has been preferred by the appellant - Mohd. Farooq with the prayer to set-aside the summoning order dated 22.11.2024 passed by the Special Judge (SC/ST Act), Prayagraj in Special Sessions Trial No. Nil of 2024 and to quash the charge sheet no. 118 of 2024 dated 11.8.2024 arising out of case crime no. 204 of 2024, under Sections 323, 504 IPC and 3(2)( va), 3 (1) Dha of the SC/ST Act, P.S. Mauaima, District- Prayagraj.

2. Heard learned counsel for the appellant, learned A.G.A. for the State and perused the entire record. None appears for the respondent no.2 despite service of notice.

3. It is submitted by the learned counsel for the appellant that appellant is innocent and has been falsely implicated in this case. No injury has been caused to the injured persons of this case. The police has also submitted charge sheet on the basis of insufficient evidence against the appellant. Essential ingredients to constitute the alleged offences are lacking. The present prosecution has been instituted with a malafide intention. Appellant has no criminal history to his credit. Learned counsel for the appellant pointed out certain documents and statements in support of his contention.

4. The next argument advanced by the learned counsel for the appellant is that the I.O. of this case collected absolutely no evidence to the effect that the incident took place in any place within the public view and intentional insult or intimidation was made by the appellant. It is further submitted that there is not even an iota of evidence on record as collected by the I.O. that the appellant committed the alleged offence knowing the injured being a member of SC/ST community. It is also submitted that the appellant never hurled abuses to insult the victims by caste related remarks. The impugned order suffers from infirmity and illegality warranting interference by this Court.

5. Per contra, the learned AGA and the learned counsel for the opposite party no.2 opposed the appeal and submitted that at the stage of taking cognizance and summoning the accused, the Magistrate / Court dealing with the matter is required to apply judicial mind only with a view to take cognizance of the offence to find-out as to whether prima-facie case has been made out to summon the accused or not. The Court concerned after applying its judicial mind has passed the cognizance and summoning order on the basis of sufficient evidence on record. There is no infirmity or illegality in the impugned order warranting interference by this Court. Hence, the appeal having no force is liable to be dismissed.

6. I have considered the rival submissions made by the learned counsel for the parties and have gone through the entire record including the impugned order.

7. It is trite law that at the stage of taking cognizance and summoning the accused, the Magistrate / Court dealing with the matter is required to apply judicial mind only with a view to take cognizance of the offence to find-out as to whether prima-facie case has been made out to summon the accused or not. The Court at this stage is not required to analyze the material on record to find-out as to whether the matter may lead to conviction or not. Sufficiency of materials for the purpose of conviction is not required. It is also settled that even when there are materials raising strong suspicion against the accused, the Court will be justified in taking cognizance and summoning the accused. The Court / Magistrate is not required to analyze the evidence on merits but to scrutinize the evidence only with a view as to whether sufficient grounds exist to initiate criminal proceedings in respect of the offence which is said to have been committed (Vide : R.P. Kapur Vs. State of Punjab, A.I.R. 1960 S.C. 866, State of Haryana Vs. Bhajan Lal, 1992 SCC (Cr.) 426, State of Bihar Vs. P.P.Sharma, 1992 SCC (Cr.) 192 and Zandu Pharmaceutical Works Ltd. Vs. Mohd. Saraful Haq and another, 2005 SCC (Cr.) 283).

8. In State of Gujarat v. Afroz Mohammed Hasanfatta, (2019) 20 SCC 539, the Hon'ble Apex Court reiterated that for issuance of summons strict standard of proof of satisfaction of the Magistrate regarding sufficiency of ground(s) to proceed in the matter is not required and such satisfaction should be based only on prima facie evidence. Before summoning the accused, the facts stated will have to be accepted as they appear on the very face of it. Sufficiency of evidence to hold accused guilty, merits of matter and defence pleas have to be examined at the stage of trial and not at the stage of issuance of process. Whether statement of a witness is hearsay and whether it is supported by "contemporaneous exposition" and whether it would fall under "res gestae" and whether it is admissible or not is to be seen only at the time of trial.

9. So far the case in hand is concerned, the prosecution claims that the accused appellant made an assault upon the daughter of informant who is a member of SC/ST community and serious injury was caused to her when she was attacked with a danda in her left leg and when it was protested by the informant the accused appellant further made an assault upon Manglesh Kumar, Arvind Kumar and two other children. FIR was lodged and after thorough investigation charge sheet was submitted. The injured, daughter of the informant namely Anchal Kumari aged about 10 years was also medically examined and she complained of pain in the right back of knee joint, however she was advised for x-ray and no adversity was found in the x-ray report of injured Anchal Kumari. It is further submitted that the informant, injured witness Anchal Kumari, eye-witnesses Arvind Kumar and Manglesh Kumar also corroborated the prosecution version in their statement recorded by the I.O. As per narration made in the FIR, the incident took place outside the house and at a public place within the public view. The informant belongs to SC/ST community and since the informant and injured persons and accused appellant are native of the same vicinity the accused appellant was well known this fact that the informant belongs to SC/ST community. It further appears from perusal of record that the offence was committed because of the injured and informant being members of SC/ST community.

10. As is evident, all the submissions made at the bar relate to the disputed questions of fact, which cannot be adjudicated upon by this Court in this appeal. At this stage only a prima facie case is to be seen in the light of the settled law, as discussed here-in-above. From a perusal of the material available on record and keeping in view the facts of the case, at this stage it cannot be said that offences levelled against the appellant are not made out and the record shows that a cognizable offence is clearly made out against the appellant. Sufficient evidence has been collected against the appellant during the course of investigation. The Court concerned did not err in taking cognizance into the matter and thereby to summon the accused / appellant to face trial for the offences made out prima facie. There is no force in the submissions made by the learned counsel for the appellant. The impugned order does not suffer from illegality, infirmity, perversity or lack of judicial mind. The prayer made in the appeal is refused.

11. The criminal appeal being devoid of merits is liable to be dismissed and the same is accordingly dismissed. Order Date :- 15.5.2025 Fhd