M.Rajarathinam v. The Sub Inspector Of Police

BEFORE THE MADURAI BENCH OF MADRAS HIGH COURT DATED: 24.10.2019

CORAM

THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE N.ANAND VENKATESH and CRL.M.P(MD)Nos.6446 of 2017 1.M.Rajarathinam 2.Shanmugarajan 3.Nagarajan 4.Sonai 5.Chidambaram 6.Ganesan 7.Manimuthu 8.Selvarangan 9.Krishnakumar 10.S.P.Muruganantham 11.Parthiban 12.Sethuraman 13.Suresh 14.Sethupathy 15.Kongeswaran 16.Muthuvel 17.Viswanathan 18.Manivannan 19.Kannan 20.Lakshmanan 21.Gnanavel 22.Jothibasu 23.Sikkanthar 24.Gajendran 25.Manikannan 26.Durai Prabhu 27.Anandakumar 28.Chandrasekaran 29.Srinivasan 30.Sonaimuthu 31.Murugan 32.Muniyandi 33.Baskaran 34.Vellaisamy 35.Rajalingam 36.Udayar 37.Ramalingam 1/4

38.Muthumari 39.Murugan 40.Ravichandran 41.Ravi 42.Pandiyan 43.Ramasubramanian 44.Santhanam 45.Thennarasu 46.Raman 47.Kichu @ Gunasekaran 48.Selvamurugan 49.Arul Prakasam 50.Selvam 51.Thangavel Pandian 52.Marimuthu 53.Muniyandi 54.Palanisamy 55.Mohanraj 56.Natarajan 57.Murugaboopathi 58.Sivaji 59.Kannan 60.Vijayakumar 61.Arumugam .. Petitioners/Accused Nos.2 to 23 & 25 to 63) Vs.

1.The State represented by The Sub-Inspector of Police, Town Police Station, Sivagangai District.

(Cr.No.258/2014) .. 1st Respondent/Complainant 2.Naganathan .. 2nd Respondent/Defacto Complainant PRAYER : Criminal Original Petition filed under Section 482 of Criminal Procedure Code, to call for the records pertaining to the case in S.T.C.No.5835 of 2014 on the file of the Judicial Magistrate No.I, Sivagangai and quash the same as illegal as against the petitioners concerned.

For Petitioners : Mr.J.Jeyakumaran For Respondents : Mr.K.Dinesh Babu for R1 Additional Public Prosecutor R2 - No Appearance 2/4

ORDER

This Criminal Original Petition has been filed seeking to quash the S.T.C.No.5835 of 2014 on the file of the Judicial Magistrate No.I, Sivagangai in Cr.No.258 of 2014 registered under Section 143, 188 & 341 of IPC, against the petitioners.

2. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioners and the learned Additional Public Prosecutor appearing on behalf of the respondent Police.

3. This Court already had an occasion to consider the very same issue and had quashed the proceedings in Crl.O.P.[MD].No.1840 of 2019 by an order dated 22.02.2019. The relevant portions of the order is extracted hereunder:

"4. The case of the prosecution is that the petitioners staged the protest against the Government Orders. In the course of agitation, the Government Order namely G.O.Ms.Nos. 234 and 303 were alleged to have been burnt by the accused persons. Hence, the complaint has been filed by the second respondent.

5. The learned counsel appearing for the petitioners submitted that on the face of the FIR, no offence is made out and for the offence under Section 285 IPC, there must be fire to endanger human life. Mere burning of a paper even though it may be a Government Order is not likely to endanger human life. There is no indication that the burning of a piece of paper endangers human life.

6.This Court finds merit in the submission of the learned counsel appearing for the petitioners. Hence, the impugned FIR is quashed as against the offences under Sections 143 and 285 IPC only and accordingly, this criminal original petition is partly allowed.

Consequently, connected miscellaneous petition is closed."

4. The above order will squarely apply to the facts of the present case.

5. The FIR registered under Section 188 of IPC is not maintainable in view of the judgment of this Court in Jeevanandham and Others .Vs. State rep.by Inspector of Police, and Another reported in [2018 2 LW (Crl.) 606] 3/4

6. In the result, the S.T.C.No.5835 of 2014 on the file of the Judicial Magistrate No.I, Sivagangai, is hereby quashed and accordingly this Criminal Original Petition is allowed. Consequently, connected miscellaneous petition is closed. Sd/- Assistant Registrar // True Copy // Sub Assistant Registrar(CS) TM To 1.The Judicial Magistrate No.I, Sivagangai.

2.The Sub-Inspector of Police, Town Police Station, Sivagangai District.

3.The Additional Public Prosecutor, Madurai Bench of Madras High Court, Madurai.

+1 CC to M/s.J.JEYAKUMARAN, Advocate ( SR-94377[F] dated 24/10/2019 ) 24.10.2019 KK/SAR/11.11.2019/4P-5C/ 4/4