MEWA SINGH Vs. BENI MADHO SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a defendant's appeal arising out of a suit for damages for malicious prosecution brought by the plaintiffs-respondents. On 27 November 1930 two complaints were filed in the criminal Court, One by kapal deo Singh against eight persons, i9ncluding the present defendant, Mewa singh, and the other by Mewa ingh, against Kapal Deo, the complainant in he counter case, and the three plaintiffs-respondents. It was common ground that a fight had ensued in which Kapal Deo received injuries and so did the defendant, Mewa Singh, The latter's injuries were grievous, as was subsequently discovered on medical examination. The plaintiffs were acquitted. It is immaterial for the purposes of this case whether the other accused in the two cases were convicted.

(2.) The suit which has given rise to the present appeal was brought by the plaintiffs-respondents on the allegation that they had been prosecuted by the defendant, Mewa Singh, for an offence under Section 325, Indian Penal Code, though as a matter of fact, the plaintiffs were not present on the scene of occurrence. The defendant pleaded that the plaintiffs joined Kapal Deo in causing grievous hurt tohim (Mewa Singh). On these pleadings there was one one material issue in the case, viz., whether the complaint made by the defendant against the plaintiffs was false. The facts alleged in the criminal Court by the defendant against the plaintiffs were such that they must have been true or false to his knowledge. It was-not a case in which the defendant had received information that the persons accused had committed a certain offence. In a case like the present the truth or falsehood of the complaint is decisive so far as reasonable and probable cause is concerned.

(3.) The plaintiffs produced evidence to establish an alibi. Their case was that they were not present on the scene of occurrence, but the defendant implicated them out of malice. The trial Court accepted this evidence and decreed the plaintiffs suit for damages amounting to Rs. 372-8-0. There can be no doubt that if the evidence led1 by the plaintiffs be accepted, as was done by the first Court, their suit must be decreed, On that supposition the defendant deliberately prosecuted the plaintiffs for an offence under Section 325, Indian Penal Code, causing grievous hurt, though he must have known that the plaintiffs were innocent and that such charge was groundless. From the decree of the trial Court the defendant appealed to the lower appellate Court, whose judgment is remarkable for the confusion of thought, which it discloses both as regards the issues involved and the grounds on which the plaintiff in a suit for malicious prosecution is entitled to rely. That Court did not accept the finding arrived at by the trial Court, but held: The respondent's (plaintiffs ) alibi is untrue and their taking part in the fight at the place where Kapil Deo was laying foundation of his house is certain.