JAYANT D SHAH Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Criminal Application has been filed by five petitioners impugning the issue of summons to show cause under Section 111 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 by the learned Special Executive Magistrate and Assistant Commissioner of Police, C.B. (P) C.I.D. Zone-IT, Bombay. The five Petitioners pray that the Show Cause Notice dated 28th July 1983 be quashed by this Court exercising its inherent jurisdiction under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

(2.) It will be relevant at this stage to recite certain facts in order to explain the circumstances under which the learned Special Executive Magistrate issued the notice under Section 111 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The five Petitioners are residents of building known as Mehendale Building situated at Parikh Wadi, V.P. Road, Bombay. All the five Petitioners occupy different rooms on the third floor of the said building. It appears that one Mathuradas Jadhavji Thakkar alongwith his wife Gangabai also reside on the third floor of the same building in Room No. 34. It appears that from the year 1979 the relations between Mathuradas Thakkar and his wife on the one hand and the five Petitioners on the other had become embittered and a series of quarrels had taken place between the two parties. The said Mathuradas Thakkar had lodged various N.C. complaints against the five Petitioners at the V.P. Road Police Station, alleging assault, abuse and intimidation. The N.C. complaints, to which I shall refer hereafter, date back from the year 1979. On the other band it is the allegation of the five Petitioners that the said Mathuradas Thakkar used to carryon a brothel in Room No. 34 which was occupied by him and his wife. The Petitioners state that they filed various complaints complaining against the nuisance created by the nefarious activity of Mathuradas Thakkar and his wife. The Petitioners allege that the V.P. Road Police Station took no notice of their complaints due to the influence wielded by the said Mathuradas Thakkar on the Police Officers attached to that Police Station. Indeed at the hearing of this Petition, Shri Nadkarni, the learned Advocate appearing for the Petitioners, has produced before me an excerpt from the daily newspaper the Mumbai Samachar, dated the 5th July 1985 wherein a report appears of a raid conducted by the Vigilance Branch of the C.I.D., Bombay, on the premises of the said Mathuradas Jadhavji Thakkar. The report goes on to state that a young girl was also arrested alongwith the said Mathuradas Thakkar and were produced before the Metropolitan Magistrate who released them on bail.

(3.) I should like to make it clear at this stage that I do not intend to embark upon an investigation of these allegations made by the Petitioners with regard to the flesh trade carried on by the said Mathuradas Thakkar in his premises. I only intend to consider the grounds given in the notices issued against the five Petitioners by the learned Special Executive Magistrate.