SANTHOSH Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a proceedings instituted under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, seeking orders quashing the first information report in Crime No.607 of 2018 of Aryanad Police Station. The petitioners are accused 1 to 7 in the crime which was registered for offences punishable under sections 143 , 147 , 148 , 149 , 452 , 323 and 294(b) of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 3(1)(c) and 3(1)(s) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act , 1989. The accusation in the case is that on 13.05.2018, at about 3.30 pm, with the knowledge and connivance of accused 6 and 7, accused 1 to 5 barged into the house of the de-facto complainant, who belongs to a Scheduled Caste, with a chopper, and abused the de-facto complainant using filthy language and assaulted her and her family members. The case set out by the petitioners in the Criminal M.C. is that the accusation against them is false and the case is one instituted maliciously alleging commission of the offences punishable under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act , with a view to coerce the sixth accused to settle the civil dispute between him and the de facto complainant.

(2.) Heard the learned counsel for the petitioners as also the learned Public Prosecutor.

(3.) The registration of the first information report is the process in terms of which the criminal law is set in a cognizable case. True, the first information report and all further proceedings thereto can be quashed by this court either to prevent abuse of the process of any court or otherwise, to secure the ends of justice where the allegations made in the first information report, even if they are taken at their face value and accepted in their entirety, do not, prima facie, constitute any cognizable offence, or where the criminal proceedings is manifestly attended with malafide and/or where the proceedings is maliciously instituted with an ulterior motive for wreaking vengeance on the accused and with a view to spite him due to private and personal grudge. It is, however, settled that the power to quash the first information report is a power that must be exercised sparingly and with circumspection in rarest of rare cases. It is also settled that the court would not be justified in embarking upon an enquiry in such cases as to the reliability or genuineness or otherwise of the allegations made in the first information report. The court cannot also enquire whether the allegations in the first information report are likely to be established [ See M.Narayandas v. State of Karnataka , (2003)11 SCC 251].