KAMESHWAR SINGH AND ANOTHER Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Two petitioners, while invoking inherent jurisdiction of this Court under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, have prayed for quashing of the order dated 1.8.1998 passed by Sri Panchanand Sharma, learned Judicial Magistrate, 1st Class, in Complaint Case 'No. 1447(C) of 1997. By the said order, learned Magistrate has taken cognizance of offence under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code.

(2.) Short fact of the case is that Sri Nand Kishore Prasad Sinha, Opp. Party No. 2 filed a complaint vide Complaint Case No. 1447(C) of 1997 in the court of learned Chief Judicial Magistrate,Patna disclosing there in that he along with his family members had filed a partition suit No.143 of 1996 in the court of the learned Subordinate Judge IV,Jehanabad. In the said case, the petitioners before this Court were defendants in the said suit. It was alleged that in the said partition suit, petitioners filed their written statement and in later part of para-21 of the said written statement, the petitioners have stated as follows:

(3.) Aggrieved with the aforesaid assertion made by the petitioners in their written statement, which was filed in Partition Suit No. 143 of 1996, Opp. Party No. 2 filed the present complaint against the petitioners. It was stated that Opp. Party No. 2 is a Law Graduate and he joined Patna District Bar Association in 1983 but he left it in the year 1990 since he was employed as Assistant in Bihar Vidhan Sabha and remained there till December, 1996 and thereafter he again started his legal practice in Civil Court, Patna as well as in Patna High Court. It was alleged that the statement, which was made by the petitioners in their written statement, was false and it was libel. The complainant has asserted that since such false statement to the written statement was read by the witnesses and some other persons had conveyed the complainant, the petitioners are liable to be prosecuted and punished for the offence under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code.