PRIYANK KANOONGO CHAIRPERSON Vs. STATE OF KARNATAKA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner - Chairperson of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights is knocking at the doors of this Court calling in question registration of a crime in Crime No.316/2023 for the offences punishable under Ss. 34, 447, 448 and 295A of the IPC.

(2.) Heard Sri Vatsal Joshi, learned counsel along with Sri Vinayaka S. Pandit, learned counsel for petitioner, Sri B.N.Jagadeesha, learned Additional State Public Prosecutor for respondent No.1 and Sri Muzaffar Ahmed, learned counsel for respondent No.2.

(3.) Sans details, facts in brief, are as follows: The issue in the lis would commence on 13/11/2023, when an official tour programme of the petitioner is notified. He was in the official tour in the capacity of being a Chairperson of the statutory body - the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights as also the Chairperson of the monitoring authority under the provisions of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 (for short 'the Act'). The official tour also depicted a visit to Bangalore between 17/11/2023 and 19/11/2023. Therefore, the petitioner was performing the official duty in Bangalore on 19/11/2023. It is the averment in the petition that the petitioner is made known that 33 institutions were keeping children and essentially functioning as a children home and the Women and Child Department was not aware as to whether the same was registered under the Act.