UJJAGAR SINGH Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Petitioners Ujjagar Singh, Ajit Singh and Dalipa Jir Singh, have filed the present petition under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (hereinafter referred to as the Code') for quashing of the complaint dated 14-12-1995 (Annexure P-1) filed by the respondent-Dharam Pal before the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Kurukshetra, designated as Special Judge, under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act of 1989'), summoning order dated 11-6-1996 (Annexure P-2) passed in the aforesaid complaint, vide which the petitioners were summoned by the Special Court for committing the offence under Section 3(1)(x) of the Act of 1989, for using atrocious words against the complainant, and orders Annexures P-3 and P-4 vide which their applications for discharge under Section 245 of the Code, were dismissed.

(2.) After the summoning order, the petitioner's appeared before the Special Court and filed applications for discharge under Section 245 of the Code on the ground that Special Court has no jurisdiction to directly entertain the aforesaid complaint without the case having been committed to it by a Magistrate under Section 193 of the Code. The applications filed by the petitioners were dismissed by the Special Judge vide its orders dated 3-5-1997 (Annexure P-3) and 2-11-1998 (Annexure P-4) by relying upon the decision of Full Bench of Kerala High Court in Hareendran v. Sarada, 1995 (2) Rec Cri R 19 (FB). The petitioners have challenged the said orders in the present petition.

(3.) The sole ground on which the petitioners are seeking quashment of the aforesaid complaint. Summoning order and the orders Annexures P-3 and P-4, dismissing their applications under Section 245 of the Code, is that the Special Court has no jurisdiction to directly entertain the complaint and take cognizance of the offence alleged to have been committed under the aforesaid Act of 1989 without the case having been committed to it by the Magistrate under Section 193 of the Code. Thus, the sole question involved in the present petition is as to whether the Special Court under the Act of 1989 has the original jurisdiction to try an offence allegedly committed under the said Act without the case having been committed to it by the Magistrate under Section 193 of the Code?