Santhamani v. State Rep.By,

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS

DATED: 16-04-2026

CORAM

THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE A.D.JAGADISH CHANDIRA

1. Santhamani

2. Prabudevan

3. Sivalingam

4. Dharmaraja

5. Karthick

6. Chandran

7. Ramesh Karthick

8. Meivel

9. Karthi 10.Karthi 11.Vadivel 12.Manikandan 13.Saravanan 14.Balamurugan 15.Natarajan 16.Surendrakumar 17.Prakash 18.Bharath

19.Varadharajan 20.Ramesh 21.Murugesan 22.Rajamuthu 23.Ponkumar 24.Hariraman ..Petitioner(s) Vs

1. State rep.by, The Inspector of Police, Mettur Police Station, Salem District.

Cr.no.188/2023.

2. Mathesan Special Sub-Inspector of Police, Mettur Police Station.

..Respondent(s) Prayer: This Criminal Original Petition is filed under Section 528 of BNSS, 2023, to call for the records pertaining to CC.No.1017 of 2025 on the file of Judicial Magistrate No.1, Mettur, Salem, and quash the same as illegal, incompetent and without jurisdiction by allowing the present Criminal Original Petition.

For Petitioner(s):

For Respondent(s):

MrT.N.Rangesh Kanna Mr.S.Udayakumar, Government Advocate (Crl.Side) for R1

ORDER

This criminal original petition has been filed seeking to quash the proceedings pending against the petitioner in C.C.No.1017 of 2025, on the file of the Judicial Magistrate No.I, Mettur, Salem.

2. The case of the prosecution is that, the petitioners, belonging to Bharatiya Janata Party, at Mettur, Salem, on 11.09.2023, at approximately 11.15 am, along with a group of nearly 209 persons, including MLA Ms. Saraswathy, engaged in an illegal assembly and protest against the Honourable Minister Mr. Sekar Babu. Consequently, on a complaint given by the second respondent police, a case in Crime No.188 of 2023 was registered by the 1st respondent police for the offences under Section 143, 341 & 290 of IPC. After completion of investigation, the final report was filed before the learned Judicial Magistrate No.I, Mettur, Salem for the aforesaid offences and the learned Magistrate took cognizance of the same and numbered it as C.C.No.1017 of 2025, which is now sought to be quashed.

3. Learned counsel appearing for the petitioners submitted that the facts of the instant case are similar to the facts of the cases in Jeevanandham and others vs. The Inspector of Police, Velayuthampalayam Police Station, Karur District reported in (2018 2 LW (Crl) 606) and Sri Raja vs Inspector of Police, Sivakasi Town Police Station Virudhunagar District and others (Crl.O.P(MD) No.7922 of 2019, decided on 30.08.2019), in which the proceedings were quashed. Hence, he prayed to quash the proceedings pending against the petitioner.

4. Learned Government Advocate (Crl.Side) concurred with the aforesaid submission of the learned counsel for the petitioner that the facts of the instant case are akin to the facts in the aforesaid two cases.

5. Heard the learned counsel appearing on either side and perused the materials available on record.

6. In view of the above, this Court is of the opinion that the above said two decisions would apply on all fours to the present case and that no useful purpose will be served by keeping the impugned proceedings pending and the same is liable to be quashed.

7. Accordingly, this criminal original petition stands allowed and the impugned proceedings pending against the petitioners in C.C.No.1017 of 2025, on the file of the Judicial Magistrate Court No.I, Mettur, Salem, is hereby quashed.

16-04-2026 Index: Yes/No Speaking/Non-speaking order SHA

To

1. The Inspector of Police, Mettur Police Station, Salem District.

2. The Judicial Magistrate No.1, Mettur, Salem.

3. The Public Prosecutor, High Court of Madras.

A.D.JAGADISH CHANDIRA, J.

SHA 16-04-2026