OM PARKASH Vs. SARDAR KULBIR SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is an application under Section 561-A Cr. P. C. praying that criminal proceedings under Section 420 R. P. C. pending against the petitioners in the court of the Munsiff Magistrate 1st Class, Nowshera be quashed or in the alternative be transferred to some other court of competent jurisdiction at Jammu.

(2.) THE facts giving rise to this application are:-The respondent Kulbir Singh lodged a complaint under Section 420 R. P. C. in the court of Munsiff Magistrate 1st Class, Nowshera, on 1-9-1966 with the allegations that he was a retail dealer of cloth at Nowshera, that for carrying on his business he has to import cloth from outside, that on 23-71966 petitioner No. 3 herein, who is an agent of the firm M/s. Progressive Handloom Industries, Gaziabad, came to his shop and showed him certain samples of cloth, that acting on the representation of the said petitioner that supplies would be made according to the samples he placed an order for supply of some cloth, that the representation made by the petitioner No. 3 was fradulent that on receipt of intimation about the arrival of the consignment note he got the same i. e. , the consignment note released from the post office Nowshera on payment of Rs. 353. 42 plus the consignment charges amounting to Rs. 30. 75, that on taking delivery of the consignment and seeing its small size he got suspicious as before the arrival of the consignment M/s. Des Rai Munshi Ram had also received some goods from the aforesaid firm which did not correspond to the samples shown and exhibited to them, that he accordingly had the consignment opened before the Tehsildar Magistrate Nowshera, that on opening the consignment before the Tehsildar Magistrate, it was discovered that the goods despatched by the petitioners were not in accordance with the samples shown to him and were inferior in make and quality and did not exceed Rs. 90/- in value, that he had the consignment sealed in presence of the Tehsildar Magistrate, that as the accused i. e. , the petitioner herein had not supplied the goods and had acted fraudulently they were liable to be dealt with under Section 420 R. P. C.

(3.) AFTER recording the statement of the complainant and his witness Munshi Ram and being of the opinion that a prima facie case under Section 420 R. P. C. has been disclosed against the petitioners 'herein, the Munsiff Magistrate issued bailable warrants to secure their attendance. Thereafter several attempts were made to procure the attendance of the accused but all of them proved abortive. The accused instead of putting in appearance before the trial magistrate have approached this Court by means of an application under Section 561-A Cr. P. C. as stated above.