SRIDHAR AND ORS. Vs. CHANDRA PRIYA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioners are the accused in C.C. No. 24 of 2012 on the file of the learned Judicial Magistrate No. 1, Karur. The respondent is the complainant in the case. Originally, on the complaint made by the respondent, the Sub Inspector of Police, All Women Police Station, Karur, registered a case in Crime No. 3 of 2010, on 30.06.2010, under Sections 498 -A and 506(i) IPC and Section 4 of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act, against the petitioners herein. On completing the investigation, the investigating officer filed a final report before the learned Judicial Magistrate No. 1, Karur, reporting thereby that there was no such offence committed by these petitioners/accused. On receipt of the said report, the learned Magistrate had rightly issued notice to the respondent/defacto complainant, as directed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Bhagwant Singh Vs. Commissioner of Police, reported in : AIR 1985 SC 1285. On receipt of the said notice, the respondent appeared before the learned Magistrate and filed a protest petition.

(2.) THE learned Magistrate, considering the protest petition, accepted the contentions of the respondent herein and treated the said protest petition as a private complaint, as dealt with by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Bhagwant Singh case. The respondent was examined as CW 1 under Section 200 Cr.P.C. and three more witnesses were examined on the side of the respondent as CW 2 to CW 4. Having considered the same, the learned Magistrate, by order dated 05.03.2012, took cognizance of the offence on the private complaint and issued summons to the petitioners herein to appear on 12.04.2012. Accordingly, they appeared. Thereafter, the petitioners filed a petition under Section 245(2) of Cr.P.C., seeking discharge, on various grounds enumerated in the said petition. That was opposed by the respondent/defacto complainant. The learned Magistrate, by order dated 29.01.2014, dismissed the said petition holding that there are prima facie materials to proceed further with the trial of the accused. Challenging the said order, the petitioners are before this Court with this petition.

(3.) IN this case, the petition seeking discharge was filed by the petitioners under Sub -section (2) of Section 245 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The said Sub -section (2) of Section 245 and Sub -section (1) of Section 245, though deal with the discharge of the accused from the case, they operate at different stages under different considerations. Before going into the further debate, let us have a look into Section 245 Cr.P.C.: