KOLHAPUR SUGAR MILLS LTD Vs. SANGLI BANK

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a petition under Section 482 of Cr.P.C. for quashing the process under Sections 420, 468 and 471 of the Indian Penal Code against the Petitioner Company. The Petitioner is a Company registered under the Companies Act in respect of a transaction pertaining to the Hundi. The Respondent No.1 instituted a prosecution against the Petitioner Company and its Directors under the aforesaid Sections. The learned Magistrate took cognizance and issued a process in respect of those offences to the Company as well as its Directors. The Company has therefore approached this Court.

(2.) The learned counsel for the Petitioner Company submitted that each of the offences in respect of which the Court has issued process is an offence which requires mens rea. Thus the Petitioner Company cannot be prosecuted for any of those offences since it is a juristic person and incapable of having mens rea. The learned counsel for the Respondent No.1 does not dispute the fact that mens rea is a necessary ingredient of the offences in question. The learned counsel for the Petitioner Company has relied on a judgment of the learned Single Judge of this Court in Natural Sugar and Allied Industries Ltd. & Anr. vs. Razzak s/o. Hazi Gaffar & Ors., 2006 CrLJ 3680. After considering several decisions of various Courts, the learned Single Judge (Gavai, J.) came to the conclusion that the word "whoever" occurring in the penal sections is clearly referrable to a person capable of having the requisite mens rea for committing an act of fraud in a dishonest way. I am of view the Judgment applies squarely to the case in hand. In the circumstances, the process issued against the Petitioner Company is hereby quashed and set aside. Order accordingly.