G.Sathuragiri v. The Inspector Of Police
BEFORE THE MADURAI BENCH OF MADRAS HIGH COURT DATED: 22.02.2023
CORAM:
THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE K.K.RAMAKRISHNAN Crl.OP(MD)No.19485 of 2018 and Crl.MP(MD)No.8849 of 2018 1.G.Sathuragiri 2.P.Karuppiah 3.J.Subramani 4.S.Kannan 5.S.Kaniselvam 6.K.Palanivel 7.A.Manimaran 8.K.Kannadasan 9.C.Velraj 10.C.Gunasekaran 11.P.Sundaram 12.S.Murugan 1/14
13.K.Chandrasekaran 14.M.Tamilselvan 15.P.Govindaraj 16.P.Maruthaiveeran 17.R.Duraisamy 18.P.Sasikumar 19.T.Pandian 20.P.Kannan @ Karunakaran 21.N.Bharathi 22.MArapuli @ Eswaran 23.V.Senthil 24.N.Kumar @ Ravikumar 25.T.Senthil 26.U.Sekar 27.A.Ganesan 28.K.Kathirkaman 29.V.Andi 30.I.Sivakavi 2/14
31.U.Subramani 32.M.Ravikumar 33.P.Kumar 34.R.Sarankumar @ Saravanan 35.S.Sivakumar 36.D.Karuppiah 37.V.Babuji 38.M.Mani @ Mahamuni 39.A.Puspanthan 40.A.Ravikumar @ Kumar 41.P.Manivel 42.K.Chidambaram 43.M.Puravi 44.A.Periyasamy 45.V.Velraj 46.K.Seerangan 47.V.Natrajan 48.V.Lakshmanan 3/14
49.A.Ramaiyah 50.S.Osappan @ Arulsamy 51.R.Paulraj 52.R.Saravanan 53.S.Govindaraj 54.P.Veerappan 55.M.Palanivel 56.V.Palanivel 57.S.Ganesan 58.K.Battan 59.R.Sangupillai 60.K.Vikayakumar 61.M.Kandasamy 62.T.Gurudevan 63.A.Sangupillai 64.P.Sathiskumar 65.L.Paulraj @ Palraj 66.M.Sekar 4/14
67.P.Kannan 68.V.Bakachandran 69.P.Ilayaraj 70.P.Subramani 71.M.Natrajan 72.R.Govindaraj 73.K.Yogaraj 74.R.Saravanan 75.S.Vaiyamalai 76.A.Patchamuthu 77.C.Rajinikanth 78.C.Annamalai 79.P.Subramani ... Petitioners/Accused Nos.1 to 3, A9 to 25, 27, 28, 30 to 35, 37, 39, 41, 42, 44, 46, 49 to 57, 59, 60, 66 to 70, 72, 76, 78 to 84, 86, 89, 91, 92, 94, 95, 96 & 98 to 104 & 107 to 112 vs.
1.The Inspector of Police, Uppiliyapuram Police Station, Thuraiyur Taluk, Trichy District.
(Crime No.47 of 1998) ... Respondent/Complainant 5/14
2.Chokka Nathan, The Sub-Inspector of Police, (Rtd.,) Uppilliyapuram Police Station, Thuraiyur Taluk, Trichy District.
... Respondent/Defacto Complainant PRAYER: Criminal Original Petition filed under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, to call for the records pertaining to the Charge Sheet in P.R.C.No.19 of 2001 pending before the learned Judicial Magistrate, Thuraiyur, Trichy.
For Petitioners : Mrs.T.Seeni Syed Amma For R1 : Mr.E.Antony Sahaya Prabhahar Additional Public Prosecutor
O R D E R
This petition has been filed to quash the proceedings in P.R.C.No.19 of 2001 pending before the learned Judicial Magistrate, Thuraiyur, Trichy.
2.Each criminal case rest on its own facts. More particularly, the quashment of criminal case on the basis of the compromise based on its own peculiar facts.
6/14
3.The facts of the present case is that due to some unfortunate discard relating to jallikattu in the petitioners' village, there was a clash between 2 groups of people. During the said clash, number of persons sustained injuries and properties were also damaged. Due to which, two FIRs were registered in Crime Nos.46 & 47 of 1998. Crime No.46 of 1998 was registered at the instance of the villagers and Crime No.47 of 1998 was registered at the instance of the officials with a allegation that the petitioners are alleged to have obstructed the officials from discharging their duty and criminally intimidated them. After completion of investigation, final reports were filed before the learned Judicial Magistrate, Thuraiyur, Trichy, and the same were taken on file in P.R.C.Nos.18 & 19 of 2001. Seeking quashment of proceedings in P.R.C.No.
19 of 2001, present petition has been filed by the petitioners. 4.The contention of the petitioners is that based on the complaint lodged by the second respondent, the first respondent registered a case against the petitioners in Crime No.
427 of IPC and Section 3 (i) of TNPPDL Act. According to the petitioners, in Crl.OP(MD)No.12450 of 2019, this Court on the basis of the compromise made between the respondent therein and the petitioners, quashed the P.R.C.No.18 of 2001. For the same occurrence, another complaint at the instance of the second respondent with some additional allegation is made and the same was culminated into present PRC.No.19 of 2001. The defacto complainant, now retired from service consented not to precipitate the above matter and hence, continuation of this proceedings may not serve any purpose. Hence, they seek quashment of proceedings in P.R.C.No.19 of 2001.
5.This Court on earlier occasion quashed the case in P.R.C.No. 18 of 2021 in Crime No.46 of 1998 by passing the following order in Crl.OP(MD)No.12450 of 2017 dated 20.09.2017:- "5.The parties have entered into compromise and a joint compromise Memo, signed by both parties, in the presence of their respective counsel, is filed. As per the Joint Compromise Memo it is stated that they have entered into a compromise, 8/14
purely with an intention to settle all the issues between the parties and to purchase peace, apart from preventing the parties from undergoing the ordeal of trial and the de-facto complainant, namely, the second respondent has given his consent to quash the charge sheet in P.R.C.No.18 of 2001.
6.The parties appeared before this Court and expressed in unequivocal terms that they have signed the Joint Compromise Memo on their own will and free volition. The identity of the parties are verified with reference to the authenticated documents produced by the parties before this Court. The identity of the parties are also confirmed by the learned Government Advocate (criminal side) through the first respondent police 7.Having regard to the specific terms of the Joint Compromise Memo, this Court is of the view that no useful or fruitful purpose will be served by keeping this matter pending. Hence the Charge Sheet in P.R.C.No.18 of 2001 on the file of the learned Judicial Magistrate, Thuraiyur, is quashed in toto. The Joint Compromise Memo signed by the parties shall from part of the order."
9/14
6.Based on the submission, this Court by the order dated 28.06.2022, has directed the Investigating Agency to verify the present atmosphere of the village. The Investigating Agency has also filed a report and affirming normalcy and peace atmosphere in the village, which reads as follows:- " The Inspector of Police was required to visit the village and assess the ground situation and filed a report. In pursuance of the same, he visited the village and recorded the statement of some persons and has filed a report stating that now peace is prevailing in that area and both sides have understood their problem and they have also realised their mistake. So on that ground, some of the villagers have suggested that the criminal proceedings can be quashed. But, from this alone, quashment is not possible.
2.So the petitioners may bring the witnesses in this case for effecting a compromise."
7.So, this Court in continuation of the above order, on 23.12.2022, has directed the defacto complainant to appear before this Court on 11.01.2023, which reads as follows:- 10/14
" The learned Additional Public prosecutor appearing for the state filed a report of the Investigating Officer enclosing the statement of the defacto complainant wherein he had expressed that he does not intend to pursue the prosecution.
Post the matter on 11.01.2023 under the same caption.
The defacto complainant is directed to be present on that day before this Court without fail." 8.As per the order of this Court dated 23.12.2022, the defacto complainant appeared before this Court on 15.02.2023, and submitted as follows:- " In compliance of the order of this Court, dated 23.12.2022, the defacto complainant, who is a retired Deputy Superintendent of Police is present today. He seeks time to file compromise memo on the ground that the issue between the parties has been resolved amicably. He specifically stated before this Court that he agreed for compromise and also undertook to file an affidavit and he requested to dispense with his further appearance for the next hearing and sought time for 11/14
filing of the affidavit.
2.For filing affidavit by the defacto complainant, post the matter on 22.02.2023."
9.The petitioners appeared in person along with their respective counsel. They were also identified by Mr.Sebastian Santhiyagoo, SubInspector of Police, Uppilliyapuram Police Station, Thuraiyur Taluk, Trichy District. This Court enquired the petitioners and perused the affidavit filed by the defacto complainant and recorded the affidavit filed by the second respondent/defacto complainant.
10. This Court considering the above sequence of the events and restoration of the peaceful atmosphere in the petitioners' village and the same is continuously prevailing as on date and the second respondent also expressed his intention not to precipitate the matter by filing affidavit and also taken note of the number of the petitioners died and the some of the allegations in PRC.No.18 of 2001 is also form part of this PRC.No.19 of 2001 and further taken into account of quashing of PRC.No.18 of 2001 in Crl.OP(MD)No.12450 of 2019, this Court exercise its inherent power 12/14
under Section 482 of Cr.P.C in the interest of the villagers to erase their wound developed as a result of the above inadvertent incident from their heart and mind and to maintain normalcy, this Court treating this case as a special case and quash the proceedings in PRC.No.19 of 2001 by invoking the inherent jurisdiction under 482 of Cr.P.C. Moreso ever, the ordeal of the trial is not going to serve any purpose.
11. In the result, the Criminal Original Petition stands allowed and the entire proceedings in P.R.C.No.19 of 2001 pending before the learned Judicial Magistrate, Thuraiyur, Trichy, is hereby quashed in respect of the petitioners and the affidavit filed by the second respondent/defacto complainant dated 22.02.2023 shall form part of this order. Consequently, the connected miscellaneous petition is closed. 22.02.2023 dss NCC : Yes/No Internet: Yes Speaking/Non-Speaking order 13/14
K.K.RAMAKRISHNAN,J.
dss
1. The Judicial Magistrate, Thuraiyur, Trichy.
2.The Inspector of Police, Uppiliyapuram Police Station, Thuraiyur Taluk, Trichy District.
3.The Additional Public Prosecutor, Madurai Bench of Madras High Court, Madurai.
Crl.OP(MD)No.19485 of 2018 and Crl.MP(MD)No.8849 of 2018 22.02.2023 14/14