The judgment emphasizes the need for specific evidence to establish the elements of alleged offences and the requirement of a judicious approach before issuing process.

ORDER :

1. Leave granted.

2. This appeal is at the instance of the original accused Nos. 1 and 2 resply in a complaint lodged by the respondent herein before the Court of the Judicial Magistrate at Alandur, Tamil Nadu for the offences punishable under Sections 294(b) and 341 resply of the Indian Penal Code (For short “The IPC”) and is directed against the order passed by the High Court of Judicature at Madras dated 1st April, 2022 in Crl. O.P. No. 5697 of 2019 by which the High Court declined to quash the criminal proceedings instituted by the respondent herein (original complainant). The High Court ultimately rejected the application filed by the appellants herein under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (for short “the Cr.P.C.).

3. It appears from the materials on record that the parties to this litigation are residing at one common enclave called the Sadagopan Enclave, Kannappan Street, Chromepet Road, Nanmangalam, Chennai. The respondent herein, the original complainant filed an Application No. STC No. 566 of 2018 in the Court of Judicial Magistrate at Alandur and prayed for an order of police investigation under Section 156(3) of the Cr.P.C. or to take cognizance under Section 200 of the Cr.P.C. On the fateful day of the incident, the parties entered into a verbal altercation on the issue of excessive flow of waste water in the society.

4. We have gone through the entire complaint lodged by the respondent herein. We asked the learned counsel appearing for the respondent (original complainant) to take us to that part of the complaint which constitutes an offence. To put in other words, the necessary averments in the complaint disclosing the commission of the offence punishable under Sections 294(b) and 341 resply of the IPC.

5. In the aforesaid context, our attention has been invited to the following paragraphs of the complaint which read as under:

“3. The complainant humbly submits that she has been elected as a Treasurer for the Sadagopan Enclave Residents Association on 15.08.2017 which is a registered one and working for the welfare of the society along with the President, Secretary and four Executive members.

4. The complainant further submits that the residents have been promised by the promoters about the sewage treatment plant, Gym, Kids Play Park, Roads, etc., as early as possible. Now the project has completed its eight years and still there were seven houses not yet registered. The waste water is going into the lands belonging to the land owners and nearby land for the past eight years. Two years before the adjacent land owner on north side objected for the flow of waste water which made to take a decision to control the flow and keep it onto the lands of land owners only. The land owners had accepted to the office bearers of 2016-17 to dig their land with the help of JBC and the waste water had run into that said lands.

5. The complainant further submits that the Current Office Bearers have received a continuous and constant complaint from the residents adjacent to the septic tank about the excessive flow of waste water and the said office bearers have tried to control the water flow by Using 21 round cement stones into the earth and the maximum water flow is going outside. But the said residents were not at all satisfied and reported in the whatsapp that reptiles are coming to their house due to the septic tank and wanted to bulk sewage treatment plant. In the society meetings of the previous office bearers, the STP quotation is 35 lakhs which was refused by the society members i.e. residents.

6. The complainant further submits that mean while the resident of Plot No. 7F adjacent to the septic tank has tried to level and build some construction work in the STP area and the necessary materials were supplied and kept in the common STP area, it was opposed by all the residents but the said resident has argued that he is the man aggrieved and he is having the land over there as per his legal documents. The cur