MAJOR SOWMITHRI Vs. STATE OF ASSAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an application u/s 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Cr.P.C.). The petitioner is a serving Major in the Indian Army. He seeks quashing of proceeding in G. R. Case No.965/2004 arising out of Geleky P.S. Case No.54/2004 u/s 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) pending in the Court of the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Sivasagar.

(2.) The case of the petitioner is that at the relevant time, he was the Post Commander of 8 Madras Regiment deployed at Geleky, district-Sivsagar, Assam to carry out army operations against insurgents and terrorists under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (1958 Act).

(3.) On 20-11-2004, an FIR was lodged by one Shri Krishna Bahadur Chetry before the Geleky police station alleging that on that day at about 1 PM while his son Shri Dilip Kumar Chetry was returning home, some army personnel along with two / three persons in civil dress questioned him on the Borholla road near Ishai river. They beat him with bamboo stick. When he cried out and shouted, the informant tried to come to his rescue but was prevented by two of them. When the army personnel went away in two vehicles, the informant came near his son and found him lying on the bank of the river in an injured condition. With the help of his neighbours, he tried to arrange medical treatment for his son but after five / ten minutes, he expired.